Pirelli Media
Stoffel Vandoorne posted the quickest time during Formula 1's post-race tyre test at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Vandoorne, driving McLaren's MP4-30, completed 99 laps with a best time of 1:44.103 to finish three-tenths of a second clear of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.
Pirelli tested different versions of its new Ultra Soft compound, as well as new constructions, with teams unaware of which prototype was being trialled.
"We had one shot when it came to testing tyres for next season, and we can be satisfied by what we’ve achieved in this test, even if we have to fully analyse the data," said Pirelli's Paul Hembery.
"We’ve tested different versions of the new Ultra Soft compound for 2016, which was one of the targets for this session.
"The Ultra Soft’s target for 2016 is to introduce a compound softer than the Super Soft and mainly designed as aggressive choice for street circuits: with better performance than the latest version of the Super Soft tyre and faster degradation, in order to allow the Teams to take a more aggressive approach to race strategy.
"Whether this will produce more pit stops, or any difference in strategies, it’s too early to say for now. We will fully analyse our data and team telemetry once we get back to base.
"But it seems we are heading in the right direction: the ultrasoft is expected to offer more possibilities for certain races.
"We also tested some different constructions for both front and rear tyres."
