McLaren completes first test with Pirelli 2026 F1 tyres

The Pirelli tyre test focused on the development of new wet and intermediate tyres for the 2026 Formula 1 season, which will retain the current 18-inch rim diameter but feature a reduced width and external diameter on both the front and rear axles. McLaren were tasked the two days.

The two-day session utilised the 3.463-kilometre "2A" layout of the French circuit. On Tuesday, Oscar Piastri completed 120 laps, setting a best time of 1:07.008, while Lando Norris completed 123 laps on Wednesday with a best time of 1:07.956. The pair covered a combined 840 kilometres, all in wet conditions.

Although Tuesday morning was dry, intermittent rain on Wednesday necessitated artificial irrigation of the track using water tankers and sprinklers to ensure consistent surface conditions. This approach was intended to provide reliable data across multiple prototype iterations of the wet weather tyres.

Pirelli’s Director of Motorsport, Mario Isola, reflected positively on the test: “The first test session of 2025 proved very useful. When testing wet weather tyres, it’s not easy to consistently reproduce the same track conditions to get reliable data, but over these past two days, we were able to acquire plenty of information that will be vital when it comes to defining the new intermediate and extreme wet tyres.”

Looking ahead, Pirelli’s tyre development programme continues with two further tests in Spain over the next fortnight, this time focused on dry-weather compounds. “It’s going to be a very busy start to the season for those of our engineers working on development

After this test at Paul Ricard, we have a further two test sessions in the coming two weeks. Both of them are in Spain and will focus on dry weather tyres,” Isola explained.

McLaren and Ferrari will take part in testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 4-5 February, followed by a session at Jerez de la Frontera on 12-13 February. At Jerez, Alpine will participate on both days, while McLaren and Mercedes will each complete a single day of running.