Three teams to test for Pirelli at Paul Ricard

Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren will take part in Pirelli's wet tyre test at Paul Ricard.

The test will take place over two days on January 25-26 at the Paul Ricard circuit near Marseille in France, with only three teams taking part despite Pirelli making the test available to all teams. Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren are attending, with Mercedes surprisingly opting not to run a car.

McLaren has already confirmed Stoffel Vandoorne will drive at the test, which will only focus on wet tyre compounds and not intermediates or slicks. Paul Ricard allows the track to be artificially sprinkled to create wet conditions, whereas in recent years Pirelli had to rely on the weather or on tractors attempting to wet the circuit at Jerez.

Pre-season testing gets underway at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on February 22, with only two tests ahead of the first race in Melbourne.

F1i classic: Jim Clark's last wins

Technical preview: What changes in 2016?

Hamilton v Prost v Schumacher

Use the red tabs on either side of the screen to scroll through more Formula One news and features

Five things to look forward in F1 in 2016

Key dates for the 2016 F1 season

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Vettel leaves door open to intriguing F1 return

Sebastian Vettel walked away from Formula 1 nearly four years ago, but the door to…

1 hour ago

A late season Le Mans win for F1's all-rounders

Civil unrest in France in 1968 had forced the organizers of the 36th running of…

4 hours ago

Alonso commits to Aston Martin as 2027 line-up is confirmed

Fernando Alonso will remain with Aston Martin for the 2027 Formula 1 season, ending months…

6 hours ago

‘Full confidence’: Ferrari responds to Vasseur-Horner speculation

Ferrari has suddenly moved to shut down speculation surrounding Fred Vasseur’s future, insisting the Frenchman…

7 hours ago

Williams drivers positive on new package, but 'we need more'

Carlos Sainz believes Williams’ heavily revised FW48 has finally given the team something it has…

7 hours ago

Vasseur responds to Leclerc's fears with Ferrari upgrade promise

Ferrari is ready to answer Charles Leclerc’s growing concerns about the team’s development trajectory, with…

9 hours ago