Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris have just tried out the tyres on which they are going to race on in 2021.

🔄 145 laps completed by the team across two days of 2021 18-inch tyre development testing with @pirellisport at @PaulRicardTrack.

Great work, team! 📸🧡 pic.twitter.com/yEkOcEFveg

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) November 8, 2019

The test took place in the Circuit of Paul Ricard in France on Thursday 7 November and Friday November 8 but Sainz, who went on the track on the first day, only could run for 39 laps because of the weather and its very poor conditions.

Lando Norris had more luck on Friday and the British driver went into the car, completed 106 laps, and signed an overall set of 145 laps for the team from Woking.

Pirelli created these tyres as bigger and with more rubber around them, reaching a size of 18 inches and they are going to be used for the first time in a Championship for next year, when Junior series are going to adopt them.

The first official test for the major formula took place back in September. The first driver https://www.motorlat.com/notas/f1/13638/pirelli-2020-tyres-seem-to-be-a-sour-pill-to-swallow ever to race on them was the Russian Sergey Sirotkin, former Williams driver, on a “mule” car given by Renault.

The Russian shared the track with future Renault’s official driver Esteban Ocon and the test went well.

On those days, Pirelli’s Mario Isola said that they were still testing the 18-inch tyres to see how they react:

“We haven’t a clear idea about what to expect but we are sure that with a full year for testing different solutions the set-up will be just perfect”, Pirelli’s Head said back then. In the meantime tests go on and datas will be filled in 2020 studying the tyres on F2, as they will affect how F2 cars will react to them and drivers will have to adapt a new style.

The reigning champions of Mercedes have already scheduled a date for their test: Hamilton and Bottas will be on track in December.