Pirelli's final development test for the 2026 tyres, before the teams get to try them after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, took place on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Fresh from his tenth place last weekend, Gabriel Bortoleto took to the track on Tuesday driving a mule car based on the current Sauber C45.

Pirelli tested the softer tyres in the new range throughout the day, from C3 to C6. In the morning, the Brazilian sampled all the options available, starting with the softest compounds before moving onto some harder tyres to take advantage of the progressive rise in track temperature.

The first hours targeted performance runs, which were useful for Pirelli's engineers to assess the gaps between the different compounds in terms of lap time. In the afternoon, the best options identified during the morning were put to the test with longer runs up to 15 laps, in order to measure degradation levels.

Bortoleto completed 136 laps, covering 363 miles (585 kms) in total. His best time of 1:19.08s was set on lap 45. Weather conditions remained stable throughout the day, with clear skies and track temperatures that peaked at 51 degrees C.

On Wednesday, Valtteri Bottas was at the wheel of a mule car based on the current Mercedes W16 chassis. The Finnish driver tested the softer compounds in the range in a similar programme to that carried out by Gabriel Bortoleto on Tuesday. Most of the work focused on the hardest compound within that range, which is most often chosen for race weekends during the season.

After several performance runs, each preceded by a warm-up lap to bring the tyres up to the correct temperature, Bottas completed the evaluation of the C3 compound with a series of long runs.

The Finn carried out a similar run plan, including performance runs, with the remaining compounds - chosen based on the tests conducted by Bortoleto the previous day - to analyse performance differences in terms of lap time and degradation levels.

In the late afternoon, Frederik Vesti (who participated in FP1 at the weekend) took over the car, testing several different tyre structures throughout 10-lap runs.

The best time set by the Danish driver was 1:19.657 on lap 41, while Bottas set a benchmark of 1:18.204 on lap 109. These lap times, however, are not relevant to each other, as each driver was following a different programme.

Over the course of the day, a total of 161 laps were completed (112 laps for Bottas and 49 for Vesti) covering 430 miles (693 kms), in track conditions very similar to those of Tuesday day with asphalt temperature peaking at 49 degrees C. A total of 794 miles (1,278 kms) were covered during the two days.

The next test for the 2026 tyres is scheduled for 9 December 9, in Abu Dhabi, at the official test with all the teams following the final grand prix of the season.