Four drivers on track at Mugello for Pirelli testing

Finally, the rain eased off at Mugello and the second day of this test was able to run according to plan. Four drivers were in action at the Tuscan track: as he did yesterday, reserve driver Liam Lawson got behind the wheel for Oracle Red Bull Racing, with the McLaren F1 Team fielding one of its race drivers, namely Lando Norris. Scuderia Ferrari HP was only scheduled to run today and Carlos Sainz drove the SF-24 in the morning, before handing over to Charles Leclerc for the afternoon.

Once again today, the Pirelli engineers worked on two parallel programmes: Red Bull and Ferrari focused on development of compounds for 2025, especially the hardest in the planned range for next season. McLaren meanwhile ran a mule car in Mugello, for its first experience of running prototype tyres for the 2026 season.

For the first hour in the morning, the track was still damp, to the extent that all three cars ran intermediate tyres, which actually produced useful information, especially as Mugello is such a demanding track. From 11am onwards it was possible to run slicks to try and get through all the planned programme.

Over the course of the day, a total of 390 laps was completed. Lando Norris drove the most laps (118 in a time of 1’21’’302), followed by Liam Lawson (116 laps, 1’23’’219), Charles Leclerc (79 laps, 1’21’’053) and Carlos Sainz (77 laps, 1’21’’890). The next stage of the development programme for next year’s compounds will take place on 25 October during the second free practice session for the Mexico City Grand Prix, designated as an in-competition test, while work on the 2026 prototypes resumes on 13 and 14 November at Magny-Cours (France) using a mule car run by the Alpine team.