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The first day of the 2022 F1 US GP race weekend ended with the 90-minute FP2 being used for Pirelli's prototype tire testing. The session was initially supposed to be done in Japan, but could not go through because of the rain. The purpose of the session was to test the prototype Pirrelli tires that would be used from the 2023 F1 season onward.
Three drivers who had not taken part in the first free practice sessions ran with the 2022 F1 US GP tire compounds to get used to the track. All three drivers were at the top of the standings, with Charles Leclerc in first position, Valtteri Bottas second in his Alfa Romeo, and Daniel Ricciardo third.
Every other driver ran a prototyped undisclosed Pirelli compound. Carlos Sainz finished the session in P4 while Mick Schumacher was an impressive P5 in the Haas. Lando Norris was P6, Max Verstappen was P7 and Lewis Hamilton was P8. The next Pirelli test will be conducted in Mexico.
Key takeaways from the Pirelli tire test at the 2022 F1 US GP
One of the bigger takeaways from the Pirelli test was a lack of speed and grip for the tested compounds. The top 3 cars in the standings all had the 2022 spec tires and held a comfortable lead.
The other key takeaway was how the cars handled on these tires. While it is safe to say that they were run in a controlled environment, there was a clear absence of grip. Quite a few drivers, ranging from Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, struggled when it came to tire grip from the traction zone.
The new tires are constructed keeping in mind the eventual switch to an F1 ecosystem where tire warmers do not exist. The initial feedback, however, shows that these tires were a handful to get used to in this generation of cars.
How does the tire test impact the rest of the 2022 F1 US GP race weekend?
On the surface, there is not much of an impact as teams will use the F1 US GP FP3 for the rest of the learning. Having said that, this does make things a bit more congested in terms of the schedule. Drivers like Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo, and Valtteri Bottas have not had much of a running this weekend, and will be heading to Saturday without a clear idea of how the car behaves on different fuel loads.
For other teams as well, the F1 US GP FP2 is the optimum time for cars to run as those conditions are closest to the conditions during the race. For every other session, there is a certain level of simulation and guesswork that needs to be done.
Any kind of fine-tuning required by the car would be done based on simulations and if there are changes that need to be made to the car post F1 US GP FP3, the aim would be to keep such changes to a minimum.
