Hamilton, Leclerc and Piastri in action as Pirelli’s Barcelona tyre test concludes

Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri were all in action as Pirelli’s tyre test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya came to a close on Wednesday.

Helping Pirelli with the development of their 2026 tyres, Ferrari pair Hamilton and Leclerc continued to share a 2024-specification SF-24, with Piastri at the wheel of McLaren’s MCL60 from 2023.

Both cars were adapted to suit the prototype tyres designed around next year’s overhauled technical regulations – those being narrower than the current ones by 25 millimetres at the front and 30 at the rear.

Leclerc ended the day with a best time of 1m 14.971s and 74 laps, Piastri posted a 1m 15.815s and 152 laps, and Hamilton clocked a 1m 16.759s and 74 laps – though Pirelli underlined that these “have no real significance given the different work programmes carried out”.

Hamilton and Leclerc shared the wheel of a modified Ferrari SF-24 once more

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Hamilton and Leclerc shared the wheel of a modified Ferrari SF-24 once more

“It was a very useful session, particularly when it came to providing a comparison between the various different constructions for next season, as well as experimenting with some compounds from the harder end of the range,” reflected Pirelli Motorsport Director Mario Isola.

“The Barcelona circuit is known as one of the most demanding for the tyres in terms of the energy exerted and degradation, therefore the information we have gathered over these two busy days will be very important for the future development of this generation of tyres.

“It’s a really demanding start to the year with four test sessions even before the season begins and I want to thank all the teams that are working with us, because we know how busy they are at the moment.”

Pirelli will stage another test at the Circuito de Jerez in southern Spain from February 13-14, with Alpine taking part on both days and McLaren and Mercedes completing one day each.