Pierre Gasly logs 900km in Pirelli wet-tyre test

Pierre Gasly completed more than 900km across two days at Magny-Cours as Alpine helped Pirelli accelerate development of Formula 1’s future wet-weather tyres on an artificially watered circuit.

The French driver gave Pirelli the kind of controlled mileage that is hard to secure during a race weekend, especially with no natural rain available. Instead, the track was uniformly watered so engineers could evaluate both full-wet and intermediate prototypes in repeatable conditions and compare runs from one part of the program to the next.

Gasly covered 101 laps on the opening day for 446km, then returned for 103 laps on day two for roughly 454km, taking the total to 900km. That volume of running made the Magny-Cours test a significant data-gathering exercise for Pirelli as it works on the next generation of rain tyres.

The first day focused primarily on full-wet running after initial setup work. With ambient temperatures around 20°C and track temperatures reaching 29°C, Gasly’s best lap was 1min37.816sec. On the second day, the morning was again dedicated to multiple full-wet specifications before the program switched to intermediates in the afternoon. Gasly’s quickest time then dropped to 1min31.457sec on the intermediate tyre, with air temperature at 19°C and the track no higher than 27°C.

Pirelli’s target was not headline lap time but consistency. By recreating the same wet surface across both days, the tyre supplier could study how different constructions and compounds behaved under controlled loads, temperatures and run plans. That matters because wet-tyre development is often limited by the simple fact that proper rain conditions are unpredictable, making dedicated tests like this especially valuable.

The exact Alpine test car was not fully detailed by the parties involved. One account of the session described Gasly as running an adapted version of Alpine’s 2026-season car, while another noted that Pirelli did not specify the chassis. Either way, the limited technical disclosure did little to obscure the main point of the exercise: giving Pirelli a long, uninterrupted wet program with one driver and one team in stable conditions.

Pirelli said the Magny-Cours test delivered important data for its future wet-tyre project. One summary of the session said the solutions under evaluation are expected to be introduced next season, with work aimed at improving areas including visibility and thermal degradation, two of the biggest racing issues when conditions turn wet.

That gives Gasly’s mileage importance beyond a private test total. The more useful the data set, the better chance Pirelli has of refining tyres that drivers can use with greater confidence in difficult conditions and that race control can rely on when visibility and performance become critical concerns.

The next official Pirelli tyre test is scheduled for June 16-17 at Barcelona-Catalunya, where the focus will shift from wet-weather development to slick tyres.