[Saba Sports News] During the Pirelli tyre test at the Nürburgring, Oscar Piastri’s first experience driving an F1 car on the Nürburgring Nordschleife was cut short by a technical failure, costing McLaren valuable testing time. The two-day test was jointly conducted by McLaren and Mercedes, originally arranged to replace the Bahrain test that was cancelled due to external factors. It also marked F1’s return to the Nürburgring after a six-year absence.The first day’s running began on a damp track. George Russell and Oscar Piastri completed installation laps on intermediate tyres first. As the circuit gradually dried out, both drivers switched to slick tyres and carried out multiple short-run tests, focused mainly on evaluating the performance of the C3 compound tyre with different constructions. In the afternoon, Russell continued with longer consecutive runs, while Piastri’s MCL40 remained stationary in the pits for an extended period due to an undisclosed technical issue, costing him nearly the entire afternoon session. In terms of lap times, Russell set the day’s fastest lap at 1:33.899, while Piastri’s best was 1:35.096, more than a second adrift. Although the test does not count as an official race weekend, every lap of running was particularly important for Piastri, who has had a difficult start to the season.
In my view, tests of this kind still hold value, especially under the current regulations, where track preparation varies significantly between circuits. Even though the Nürburgring is not on the current F1 calendar, teams can still gather useful baseline data from running there.