The Formula 1 testing day in Abu Dhabi has ended, marking the end of on-track action this year. Esteban Ocon was the fastest, surpassing two rookies.
The best times came in the afternoon/evening session, with the Frenchman from Alpine clocking a time of 1m24.393s in his best of 110 laps. With that, he beat Pato O’Ward (McLaren) by 0.269s, while Frederik Vesti (Mercedes) finished third, 0.286s behind. The top five was completed by Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari).
The regular drivers were working for the exclusive tire supplier, Pirelli, on a day when only five drivers did not set their personal best times with the softest tires in the range: George Russell (Mercedes), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri), Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo), and Alexander Albon (Williams).
Three-time champion Max Verstappen was one of the regular drivers who did not attend, but Red Bull still had a rookie: the choice fell on Jake Dennis, who finished with the 14th fastest time. With 130 laps, Pietro Fittipaldi was the one who completed the most laps, finishing in 19th place for Haas. More than one red flag marked this session.
Early in the day, there was a water leak on the track between turns 13 and 14, which cost nearly half an hour of work. Then, at the beginning of the local afternoon, Russell spun out at turn six following a possible car failure and caused another red flag.
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