McLaren has become the first team to take part in Pirelli’s tyre test in 2025, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris putting the 2026 wet-weather tyres through their paces at Circuit Paul Ricard.

The French circuit was a logical choice for the test, as it features a dedicated sprinkler system that allows for controlled wet conditions, ensuring valuable data collection for Pirelli’s next-generation tyres.

Piastri was the first to take the wheel on Wednesday, driving McLaren’s MCL60. However, extremely cold temperatures in the morning—dropping as low as -2°C in some areas of the track—delayed his running.

As conditions improved in the afternoon, the Australian driver made up for lost time, completing 120 laps in total. His best lap of 1m07.008s suggested that McLaren was using a shortened version of the circuit, rather than the full layout previously used for the French Grand Prix.

On Thursday, Norris took over driving duties, continuing the evaluation of Pirelli’s wet and intermediate tyres for 2026. While natural rainfall was expected, water tankers and the circuit’s sprinklers were on standby to ensure consistently wet track conditions.

Norris completed 123 laps, setting a best time of 1m07.956s. Together, he and Piastri covered 840 kilometres, entirely on a wet track.

The test is part of a broader development programme as Pirelli adapts its tyres to F1’s upcoming regulation changes in 2026, which will introduce modifications to car design and power units. Although the tyres will retain their 18-inch diameter, both their width and external dimensions will be slightly reduced.

Pirelli will continue testing throughout the year, refining the wet-weather compounds to ensure they meet the demands of the new generation of F1 cars. With McLaren’s two-day session now complete, the data gathered will play a crucial role in shaping the final tyre specifications for the 2026 season.

Mario Isola, Pirelli Director of Motorsport, said: "The first test session of 2025 proved very useful.

"When testing wet weather tyres it’s not easy to consistently reproduce the same track conditions to get reliable data, but over these past two days we were able to acquire plenty of information that will be vital when it comes to defining the new intermediate and extreme wet tyres.

"It’s going to be a very busy start to the season for those of our engineers working on development: after this test at Paul Ricard, we have a further two test sessions in the coming two weeks. Both of them are in Spain and will focus on dry weather tyres.

"On 4 and 5 February, McLaren and Ferrari will be on track at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit and then, on 12 and 13 at Jerez de la Frontera, Alpine will be working with us on both days, while McLaren and Mercedes will do one day each."