Red Bull completes first proper 2017 slick test

©Pirelli

Red Bull has carried out Pirelli's first full test of the 2017 slick tyres across two days at Mugello.

Following Ferrari's wet tyre test at Fiorano on Monday and Tuesday, Pirelli's attentions turned to Mugello with Sebastian Buemi driving for Red Bull. While baseline running was carried out on slicks by Ferrari, the past two days have seen only dry tyres used as part of the 2017 testing program.

Buemi completed 82 laps on the opening day in the modified RB11, with Pirelli saying Wednesday was "focused on the scheduled slick test programme in the afternoon, with a variety on compounds and new constructions."

Thursday saw Buemi continue the work in Italy, completing a further 93 laps which included some unofficial timing in order for Pirelli to understand how much quicker lap times could be in 2017.

F1 teams will now undertake a mandatory two-week summer shutdown period, so 2017 tyre testing will resume in September, with a two-day test for Ferrari in Barcelona starting on the same day as a three-day test for Mercedes at the Paul Ricard circuit. Both teams will be testing slick tyres from September 6.

The findings from the first four days of testing the 2017 tyres will now be analysed in order to shape the development of the tyres which will run at the start of September.

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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.