Pirelli hires German F1 veteran as tyre tester

Tire Business staff report

Milan, Italy -- Pirelli Tyre S.p.A. has secured the services of Mercedes GP Petronas test driver Nick Heidfeld -- who has more than 150 career Formula 1 starts in his resume -- to be its official test driver as it begins testing tyres for next year's F1 season.

Mr. Heidfeld will use Toyota's 2009 Formula 1 car, the TF109, to test the new rubber that all the teams will use from 2011 onwards, Pirelli said. The 33-year-old German, chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, spent 10 seasons in F1 driving for four teams before agreeing to become the test and reserve driver for Mercedes GP this season.

The Toyota TF109 was the last Formula 1 car produced by the Japanese car maker before it withdrew at the end of 2009. As such, Pirelli said, the car provides contemporary technology and performance with which to test the new Pirelli PZero Formula One tyres to the limit while not providing an advantage to any team competing in the 2010 season.

Mr. Heidfeld will drive the car in a series of test sessions on several different circuits starting this month, Pirelli said. The development work will focus on finding the right compromise between performance, durability and spectacle.

“The role of test driver is a crucial one,” said Pirelli Motorsports Director Paul Hembery, “so we were looking for a driver who had plenty of recent Formula 1 experience, the speed to push our new tires as hard as possible, and the consistency to provide reliable simulations, as well as the analytical skills to relay information accurately to our engineers.”

Pirelli's development testing is getting under way less than two months since Pirelli concluded a three-year agreement with the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, world motorsport's governing body, as the sole tire supplier to the Formula 1 World Championship. Pirelli also will supply F1's companion “feeder” series, GP2 and GP3.

The current F1 teams will get the chance to test the new tyres after the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November, Pirelli said. The Italian company's contract with the FIA calls for it to provide four distinct tyres with different compounds, two of which will be used at each race.

Pirelli's selection of Mr. Heidfeld comes as somewhat of a surprise, as the tyre maker previously said that it wanted to conduct its testing programme using a driver who is not associated with any F1 team. The Italian company wanted to avoid any potential claims of favoritism toward any particular team - the type of criticism that could have arisen had it employed a driver under contract to one of F1's entrants. For the same reason, Pirelli also made it clear that it did not want a driver who has ambitions to race again in the future.

- Adam Cooper, Crain News Service, contributed to this article.

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Tire Business (A Crain publication)