Bottas and Vesti worked on the second day of Pirelli tests.

      Valtteri Bottas and Frederik Vesti worked with 2026 tyre prototypes on the second day of Pirelli testing in Mexico.

      Bottas was the first out on track; driving a specially modified W16 chassis he tested softer compounds from C3 to C6. The tyre engineers spent most time on the C3 compound, which is most often selected for race weekends during the season.

      After several quick laps, each preceded by a warm‑up lap, Bottas evaluated the new C3 tyres on a long run. He followed the same programme with the other compounds, assessing differences in characteristics and levels of wear.

      In the second half of the day Frederik Vesti (who took part in the first practice session of the Mexican Grand Prix for Mercedes) got behind the wheel and tested tyres with different construction options.

      Bottas’s best time was 1:18.204; Vesti’s best lap was 1:19.657, but they cannot be compared — the drivers were following different programmes. Together they completed 161 laps (112 for Bottas and 49 for Vesti), covering 693 kilometres. A total of 1,278 kilometres were covered over the two days of testing.

      The next 2026 tyre tests will take place after the season finale in Abu Dhabi — on Tuesday, 9 December, with all teams participating.