Abu Dhabi : Seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher, the only driver in the current line-up to have driven Pirelli tyres, along with current champion Sebastian Vettel and two-time champion Fernando Alonso completed testing the Italian tyres at Yas Marina Circuit on Saturday.
Alonso, who did 105 laps in his Ferrari, topped the timesheet with 1:41:529 and the man who beat him to the world title, Vettel, clocked 0.296 seconds slower in his Red Bull Renault.
A total of 15 drivers were on the 5.5km Yas circuit, one for each of the 12 teams with Force India, McLaren and Sauber using two drivers. Paul Hembery, Pirelli's motorsport director said, "We've passed our first test with full marks. All the teams have done plenty of laps and everyone has worked very hard. During the two days of testing in Abu Dhabi we've racked up nearly 11,000km with all the teams. We will now begin to analyse the data collected over the last two days."
"I am probably the only driver to have driven with Pirelli tyres before, but that was 20 years ago and I didn't have any expectations before today. In terms of consistency, it looked quite good," Schumacher said.
"Overall, it was a positive day," said Alonso at the end of the session. "We had no problems with the Pirelli tyres. From what we could see, the switch from Bridgestone to Pirelli should not be a traumatic one."
