• Jerez test

Wet tyre test shifted to Wednesday as rain hits Spain

ESPN Staff
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Pirelli has declared the second day of testing in Jerez (Wednesday) as a wet weather day to give teams an opportunity to test wet and intermediate tyres.

One of the 12 days of pre-season testing must be dedicated to wet weather testing in order to give the teams a chance to test the new wet and intermediate tyres with the extra torque produced by the V6 turbo engines. Pirelli had originally planned to dedicate Friday to wet weather testing, but a damp start to Wednesday morning offered the opportunity to switch days with a little help from mother nature.

A tractor towing a water tank sprinkled the track to make it as wet as possible, although intermediates were still the tyre of choice not long after the initial laps had been completed.

Wednesday could be the only opportunity teams get to test their new cars in wet conditions before the start of the season, with the second two tests taking place in Bahrain. The extra torque of the new engines means the cars will be more of a handful in the wet, but none of the teams have really started to push as they continue to debug their new machines.

After a whole day in the garage on Tuesday fixing an electrical problem, McLaren was the first team to hit the track with Jenson Button behind the wheel on full wet tyres for an installation lap.

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