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Pirelli is confident that preparations for its return to Formula 1 next season are “on target” after completing its first two-day test this week.

The tyre manufacturer ran at the Tuscan circuit of Mugello on Tuesday and Wednesday, with newly recruited official test driver Nick Heidfeld at the wheel of a 2009 Toyota TF109.

The objective was to evaluate prototype versions of Pirelli’s new PZero F1 rubber, which will be used by the entire F1 field next season when the Italian firm takes over from Bridgestone as the sport’s exclusive tyre supplier.

The test was held in largely dry and sunny conditions and Pirelli said it had accomplished exactly what it set out to.

“This was the first step of our return to Formula 1 and we are very satisfied with how the tyres performed and the information we were able to collect,” said motorsport director Paul Hembery.

“We concentrated on finalising the profile and the construction of the front and rear tyres, which is a process that we will continue over the next few tests that we carry out.

“Mugello has quite an abrasive surface with long and medium/high-speed corners as well as hairpins and quick changes of direction, so it is quite a good proving ground.

“We are on target and we came away from the test with lots of data to analyse, which is exactly the situation we hoped to be in.”

Hembery praised Heidfeld’s feedback and also thanked Toyota for supplying its year-old F1 car, which is being used to ensure none of the current teams gain an unfair advantage as Pirelli’s fine-tunes its tyre construction and compounds.

“A lot of people have made a big commitment to get to where we are today in a very short period of time and the effort really has been incredible,” said Hembery.

“The Toyota team has also been very professional and provided a good, reliable car.ITV-F1