Pirelli has admitted it was left with “little data” after rain disrupted its two-day tyre test at Mugello several times. Both the Ferrari and Haas teams attended to test the 2026 tyre compounds, with the programme focusing on the hardest compounds. Unfortunately, persistent rainfall forced the majority of running onto intermediates and even extreme wets.
“Unfortunately, the weather didn’t help,” commented Mario Isola, Pirelli director of motorsport, in a release following the test days. “That’s a shame, as Mugello is not just a wonderful circuit, but also very demanding on tyres and it would have been useful to get in some consistent running to define the hardest compounds.
“Now we will have to finish the work of analysing the little data we collected over these two days and cross-reference it with that from previous sessions, in order to reach the necessary conclusions.
“As for the softer compounds, we still have two more days of testing after the Mexico City Grand Prix to finalise their homologation.
“If we want to look for positives, at least we were able to test the wet weather tyres on a real track, gathering data and insights which will be useful for medium to long term development.
“Finally, I’d like to thank Haas and Scuderia Ferrari for their cooperation over these past two days.”
Ferrari’s running was completed by Charles Leclerc and reserve driver Zhou Guanyu after Lewis Hamilton withdrew due to his bulldog Roscoe becoming unwell. Haas ran its drivers Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman in a VF-24 mule car. Leclerc completed 25 laps on Thursday morning, setting a fastest time of 1m34.914s on intermediates. Zhou followed in the afternoon, completing 75 laps with a number of them on slicks, setting a best time of 1m22.012s.
On Friday, Ocon managed 40 laps, the quickest of which was 1m21.943s. Bearman later completed 30 laps with a best time of 1m34.381s. The American team also put Romain Grosjean in a 2023-spec VF-23 for a test separate from the tyre testing – his first Formula 1 outing since his 2020 crash in Bahrain.
The seven-time champion was due to take part alongside his team-mate, but after his fan-favourite pet bulldog was placed into a coma, he understandably withdrew from the tests.
“We don’t know whether he’ll wake from this,” Hamilton wrote on Instagram. “Tomorrow we’ll try to wake him up. I’m by his side and want to thank you all for your prayers and support.”
