Charles Leclerc was quickest in Components 1’s sole day of post-season testing, as he once more shared the observe together with his brother Arthur.
The Ferrari driver who completed third on the earth championship set a quickest time of 1’23.510 and lined 134 laps.
Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who was initially scheduled to do a full day’s working, missed the start of the check however joined in time to cowl 62 laps, getting inside four-tenths of a second of Leclerc’s greatest time. The pair had been separated by Carlos Sainz Jnr, making his debut for Williams, George Russell within the different Mercedes and Nico Hulkenberg, on his first day with Sauber.
Frederik Vesti substituted for Antonelli early on within the session. He lined 55 laps and ended the check on the backside of the instances with Ferrari’s Antonio Fuoco, one other driver who solely ran earlier within the day when observe situations had been much less beneficial.
Crimson Bull used the check to offer Yuki Tsunoda his first alternative to drive one among their automobiles. He and Isack Hadjar’s greatest lap instances had been inside hundredths of a second of one another, the Components 2 runner-up having already pushed the RB20 in apply periods twice this yr.
Tsunoda raved about his first run in Max Verstappen’s world championship-winning machine. “It’s the primary time previously 4 years that I’ve pushed a unique automobile,” he mentioned.
“You possibly can bodily really feel why the RB20 has been combating for a championship this yr, it seems like a really completely different automobile to drive. We now have had a really [productive] day right now so I’m actually proud of that.”
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“I really feel just like the automobile fits my driving type and I haven’t struggled a lot in any respect to adapt,” he added, “even on the lengthy runs I’ve been capable of run persistently right now and was capable of really feel the constraints of the automobile which, for those who don’t trust within the automobile, you might be unable to check.”
Whereas McLaren’s IndyCar star Pato O’Ward had his newest run in one of many MCL38s, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri shared the opposite. Norris had a short spin early on within the session with out inflicting harm.
Abu Dhabi post-season check instances
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