Mercedes appear more comfortable with the 2020 Pirelli tyres following the two days of running in Abu Dhabi.
The compounds put forward by the Italian manufacturer for next season are still to be confirmed with a vote expected this week on whether to continue using this year’s spec.
This comes after teams were unhappy with the tyre that was trialled in Friday practice back at the US Grand Prix but George Russell, who stepped back to his parent team on Wednesday, seemed more at ease with the 2020 products.
“It’s been a pleasure driving the championship-winning W10 today,” said the current Williams driver.
“We tested the 2020 tyres and I’ve learned a huge amount about them which I’m sure will help both myself and the team going into next season, which is very positive.”
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Mercedes chief engineer Andrew Shovlin also indicated the German manufacturer was making progress in understanding Pirelli’s new rubber.
“The car has run faultlessly over the last two days which has allowed us to get through a lot of work,” he commented.
“We spent more time today working on getting the most out of the 2020 tyres and we have made good progress in understanding what they need in terms of set-up.
“We also completed a compound scan in the morning which gives us some data to select the tyres for the opening races and did some work on the softest compound – the C5 – on which George set his fastest lap.”
Looking further into the future, Shovlin also revealed Mercedes will be back on track next week to continue work on Pirelli’s new 18-inch tyres for 2021 with Russell again behind the wheel.
