Formula 1 practice at non-sprint weekends is a well-known format – teams have an hour in both FP1 and FP2 on Fridays and then a third 60-minute session on Saturday before qualifying.
But second practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix will take on a different format as Pirelli conducts a vital test ahead of its 2025 tyre compound homologation.
The change mirrors the one made for last year’s event, where the Italian manufacturer trialled a prototype C4 compound ahead of the current campaign.
Pirelli needs real working data when finalising its homologation ahead of the new season, which will again see F1 travel to 24 destinations across the globe, and with a lack of in-season testing time, this weekend’s practice session has been earmarked as a chance to gather information.
As explained by Pirelli, the session will be “entirely given over to validating” the tyre range’s softest compounds for next year: the C4, C5 and C6 compounds.
To facilitate the test, FP2 will be extended to 90 minutes, with all drivers and teams obliged to follow a run plan established by Pirelli’s engineers.
Engineers from Aston Martin and Pirelli check the Medium and Soft tyres
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
So, in addition to the usual dry tyre allocation for the grand prix weekend, drivers will be given two more sets of tyres. One will be a test control tyre – i.e. the same compound as the soft in the normal allocation – and the other will be a 2025 prototype, which Pirelli has confirmed was homologated in September.
The specified programmes will include a qualifying simulation run and a race simulation run, with “every team running the same number of laps with the same quantity of fuel on board” – dependent on which run type is being performed.
These tyre sets will be identifiable as they will not run with coloured sidewalls.
A complication for the test is that some contracted race drivers will be making way for rookies to complete one of the regulation-mandated rookie runs in FP1, with a lack of on-track time compared to rivals potentially putting those that stepped aside at a disadvantage.
Pirelli has counteracted this by handing those affected an additional set of medium compound tyres for FP2 and allow them 30 minutes of ‘free’ running, thus only obliged to complete 60 minutes of tyre testing.
Data from the test will be analysed before the post-season group tyre test, which will take place at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu…
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