McLaren completes at Paul Ricard first test with Pirelli 2026 tyres

Pirelli wrapped up this week at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France its first tyre test of 2025.

Formula 1’s exclusive tyre supplier conducted a two-day programme in partnership with McLaren that focused on the development of its 2026 wet and intermediate product.

Next year’s F1 tyres will retain the same 18” rim diameter as the current ones, but with a slightly smaller width and external diameter on both the front and rear axles.

Pirelli’s engineers and McLaren’s drivers worked together to evaluate multiple prototype iterations under controlled wet conditions, ensuring reliable feedback on performance and durability.

A Combined 840 Kilometers of Running

The sessions took place on Paul Ricard’s 3.463-kilometre ‘2A’ layout. Oscar Piastri took to the track on Tuesday, completing 120 laps with a best time of 1:07.008.

Lando Norris followed on Wednesday with 123 laps, setting a best time of 1:07.956. The combined mileage across both days reached 840 kilometres, all conducted in wet conditions.

Both Tuesday and Wednesday required artificial track irrigation using water tankers and sprinklers to maintain a consistently wet surface and to allow the most effective evaluation of the test data gathered with the various prototypes.

“The first test session of 2025 proved very useful,” commented Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Director of Motorsport.

“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.”

A Busy Development Schedule

With the wet-weather test complete, Pirelli now shifts its focus to dry-weather compound development.

The next two tests will take place in Spain over the next two weeks, continuing an intensive early-season programme.

“It’s going to be a very busy start to the season for those of our engineers working on development,” added Isola.

“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.

“On 4 and 5 February, McLaren and Ferrari will be on track at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit and then, on 12 and 13 at Jerez de la Frontera, Alpine will be working with us on both days, while McLaren and Mercedes will do one day each.”

With a demanding schedule ahead, Pirelli remains committed to refining its 2026 tyre compounds, ensuring optimal performance for all conditions on the evolving Formula 1 landscape.

• Read also: Hamilton wants better wet tyres – Pirelli responds

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