Grosjean back testing for Pirelli in F1

It may be the winter, but for Romain Grosjean life in the fast lane never stops. Fresh from his ice racing exploits in the Andros Trophy, he’s swapped the freezing temperatures of Europe for the heat of Bahrain where’s he’s busy tyre testing for Pirelli. We caught up with Romain to see how things are going…

Romain, what have you been doing today?

I’m in Bahrain testing for Pirelli to help develop their 2011 F1 tyres. We managed to complete 61 laps in the 2009 Toyota F1 car and we learned some interesting things. We did quite a mixed programme, including some short runs and longer runs to learn about the compounds. Already I can feel an improvement compared with the last test I did for Pirelli at Monza.

What are the conditions like in Bahrain at the moment?

It’s not too hot, but obviously much warmer than it is in Europe! We also had some windy conditions so there was some sand on the track this morning, which made things quite tricky. But in the afternoon the conditions were a bit better we could get some good useful feedback and results. We will continue testing tomorrow (Thursday) and on Sunday.

Is tyre testing something you enjoy?

Yes, it’s good experience for me because it’s totally different to racing. Instead of being focussed on the car set-up you are thinking only about tyre performance. You have to think about the consistency and the different strengths of each tyre, and then compare with other compounds, which is very interesting for a driver.