Mercedes conduct private testing at Silverstone between races

Mercedes have been doing some private testing in the break between the Miami and Emilio-Romagna grands prix, going to the home of British motorsport at Silverstone.

The team were running tyre tests for Pirelli to provide data on the tires being developed for 2026, focusing on wet weather tires on the second day of the test with George Russell driving a mule car based on the 2024 W15

Russell completed 80 laps and covered 481 kilometres during the two days of testing, with the wet weather programme focusing on comparison testing between various extreme wet and intermediate tyres.

However, the tests took place on the 2.630 kilometre-long National layout at Silverstone, which differs from the British Grand Prix currently used by F1.

What is Silverstone’s National layout?

Silverstone’s National Circuit uses the old start/finish straight, where the first corner - Copse - is situated, and then takes a right at Maggots corner.

The circuit then links up to the Wellington straight, which is just after the start/finish line on the new layout, with the tweaks for the test cutting out half of the Grand Prix track.

Pirelli director Mario Isola confirmed that the tests will help refine the product of the 2026 tyres, coupled with testing earlier this year at Paul Ricard.

The next test for the 2026 tyres takes place at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit on June 3 and 4 following the Spanish Grand Prix, where Mercedes will once again be in action and joined by Racing Bulls.

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