Lewis Hamilton set for key examination as vital F1 test planned

Pirelli motorsport boss Mario Isola has explained how the manufacturer will be cross-referencing Lewis Hamilton's recent "painful" F1 test.

During the April break, Hamilton completed a two-day wet-weather tyre test at Fiorano, as Pirelli gathered precious data on its intermediate and wet tyres - something it can seldom do outside of grands prix.

In recent years, the full wet tyre has drawn criticism from drivers and is now often only used behind the safety car, with drivers switching to the intermediate tyres as soon as is possible.

Hamilton's test came after one in Bahrain in March had to be abandoned following the outbreak of the United States and Israel vs Iran War, with some personnel present at the track as missiles struck nearby. 

Pirelli is planning another wet-weather test for mid-May at Magny-Cours in France, which last hosted a grand prix in 2008, where Hamilton's data and feedback will be compared to fresh data from another circuit, as the outgoing Isola, who will soon be replaced as Head of Motorsport by Dario Marrafuschi, a veteran of research and development of both racing and road tyres, explained.

"We tested several different prototypes, including the new tread patterns we are planning, and for sure we had good feedback, but we need to pay attention because Fiorano is quite a particular track," Isola told media, including RacingNews365.

"That is the reason why we want to test on different circuits, because Fiorano is unique and gives you feedback you cannot replicate on other circuits. 

"The test was good, the conditions and level of water on track were under control, but Fiorano is Fiorano, and we have a test planned for Magny-Cours in mid-May, and we are going to validate some of the solutions we tested with Lewis in Fiorano. 

"It is not because we don't trust Lewis, Lewis is a fantastic driver, but it is important for us to test on a different track because the point is that with the intermediate, we have very little possibility for development and a very small number of tracks where we can test them, and we have to run the same tyre everywhere.

"It is really difficult to make a tyre which works everywhere, so it is important that we validate the tyres on different circuits, and unfortunately, Bahrain was not possible due to serious reasons, but I was quite interested to see the result of a test in Bahrain.

"Because Bahrain is a high-severity circuit with characteristics that are completely different to Fiorano and Magny-Cours, and having a test there was really important for us, but it is what it is, the problems are bigger than our test."