Pirelli to do less private testing in 2012

Pirelli will do less private track testing next year, motor sport director Paul Hembery has announced.

As the Italian marque took over from Bridgestone as F1’s sole supplier, Nick Heidfeld, Pedro de la Rosa, Romain Grosjean and Lucas di Grassi have all been deployed as official test drivers.

They have driven Toyota’s 2009 car, which - to bring it closer to the specification of the current racers - has also received an aerodynamic update.

But Hembery is quoted by Reuters as saying Pirelli’s approach will change for 2012.

"We’re moving more towards simulators and simulation data," he said.

"We have also the mid-season test (at Mugello next year), as the teams have now agreed to, which will help us a lot, being able to get on 2012 cars mid season.

"That will be a huge advantage for us because we can start already showing them tyres for 2013," added Hembery.

Meanwhile, the Briton told the Italian-language FOTA fan forum on Wednesday that F1’s drivers have asked to be allocated more soft tyres at grands prix.

"We received a memo from the drivers asking us to review the tyre allocation and it would be good to see if we can allocate differently," he said.