Second practice at this years Japanese and US Grand Prix will be extended to 90 minutes, enabling Formula 1 teams to test 2023 Pirelli tyres. The Italian tyre-maker is working with the teams to come up with "new opportunities" to test future tyres in-season says Motorsport Director Mario Isola, due to the increasingly busy calendar. "We have the opportunity to use FP2, that will be 90 minutes and not 60 to have all the 20 cars running different plans," he told media. "As usual, they are blind, so teams are not going to know what they are testing. But that's really important for us, it's important to find new opportunities of testing because with such a busy calendar with the 24 races next year. "It will be... I don't want to say almost impossible to find the space to test, but the European season is shorter to stay on track. Tuesday and Wednesday after the race is difficult, so we need to find new opportunities.
Teams to run "blind prototype" 2023 tyres in practice
Pirelli introduced 18-inch tyres in 2022 to enable better racing and for drivers to 'push' for longer without it affecting the spectacle. To ensure they have the desired effect, Isola says the teams are working with the Italian tyre maker to ensure they come up with a solution that benefits them and has minimal disruption to their competitive sessions. Each team will be given a run plan and will complete the same number of laps. Isola added: "We are planning to give them run plans with a mileage that is similar to what they have during a normal FP2. All the teams will run the same number of laps with blind prototypes. "We are trying not to change too much the construction during this test because they set up the car for this weekend. "So we're working with the teams, we're trying to find clever solution in order to give us the possibility to test and not to disrupt too much the weekend for them."
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