Tyre and young driver testing was the order of the day in Abu Dhabi as the gruelling 2024 F1 season finally reached its conclusion. The calendar consisted of 24 races, as well as 6 Sprints.
Debuts
There was debuts aplenty for drivers with their new teams: Carlos Sainz at Williams, Gabriel Bortoleto at Sauber, Esteban Ocon at Haas.
Nico Hülkenberg also made his bow with Sauber in his second spell at the team. The German is expected to lead Audi into their new era with a multi-year deal in his back pocket.
Meanwhile Yuki Tsunoda finally got a run as the Japanese driver took to the track in the RB20 on Tuesday.
Familiar names at the front
At the front, former Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz led the way at the Yas Marina circuit.
The 27-year-old clocked a 1:23.510 to lead the way, 0.125s quicker than Sainz in the Williams as the Spaniard started life at his new team strongly. His fastest time was a couple of tenths quicker than Albon’s on Saturday in Q1.
Russell, Hülkenberg and Antonelli completed the top 5 as they also got themselves into the 1:23s. Despite feeling unwell, the Italian got some valuable running in as he prepares for life at Mercedes next year.
Iwasa, O’Ward, Doohan, Aron and Ocon completed the top 10. Aron was just 0.007s slower than fellow Alpine driver Doohan as the Estonian drove the A524 for the first time since the announcement he would be the team’s reserve driver.
Browning, Hirakawa, Lawson, Arthur Leclerc, Hadjar, Norris, Tsunoda, Bortoleto, Piastri, Crawford, Drugovich, Vesti and Fuoco completed the full order.
Racing Bulls Liam Lawson did a whopping 159 laps, followed by Sainz and Drugovich on 146 laps. 17 of the 23 drivers did more than 100 tours of the Yas Marina circuit as F1 Testing came to a close in Abu Dhabi.
