Post-Season Test - Day #2 - Re-Cap & Times

POST-SEASON TEST - DAY #2 - RE-CAP & TIMES

    Lando Norris and Robert Kubica impressed in the final Formula 1 test of 2017.

    It was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel at the top of the order, but the McLaren reserve driver and F1 race winner were the main attractions in Abu Dhabi.

    Kubica only completed a handful of laps, sharing testing duties for Williams with Sergey Sirotkin, a new addition to the list of drivers rumoured to be replacing the retiring Felipe Massa. Despite completing less than half as many laps as Sirotkin, Kubica was half a second quicker than the Renault reserve driver. His 1m39.485s lap time was also a tenth of a second faster than Lance Stroll’s best lap on Tuesday.

    McLaren’s Lando Norris also impressed in his first outing in an F1 car since being announced as the team’s reserve driver. He was completing the tyre test that was scheduled to take place after the Brazilian Grand Prix and finished 12th fastest, nearly two seconds slower than Stoffel Vandoorne, who finished eighth fastest in the other McLaren despite running into the tyre barriers in the first half of the day.

    Norris has been confirmed at Carlin’s Formula 2 team for the 2018 season.

    At the top of the order, Vettel set his best time of the day – a 1m37.551s – in the first hour of running. He put in 118 laps over the course of the day, but couldn’t better his time. Nobody else could even get close to it, though, with Mercedes Valtteri Bottas the next best and nearly a second slower.

    Max Verstappen was third quickest ahead of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, who shared testing duties for Force India.

    Just 0.41s faster than Kubica, Carlos Sainz Jnr was sixth quickest.

    Kevin Magnussen and Sirotkin rounded out the top 10.

    With news that Alfa Romeo would be sponsoring Sauber in 2018 breaking, Ferrari junior driver Charles Leclerc was in the car. He could only manage 11th quickest, but his 1m40.666s lap was more than a second faster than Marcus Ericsson’s best effort on Tuesday.

    Toro Rosso duo Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly completed the order.

TIMES: 

1. Sebastian Vettel - 1:37.551 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany / 118 Laps
2. Valtteri Bottas - 1:38.490 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Finland / 141 Laps
3. Max Verstappen - 1:38.736 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Netherlands / 132 Laps
4. Sergio Perez (PM) - 1:38.818 / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico / 52 Laps
5. Esteban Ocon (AM) - 1:39.148 / Force India-Mercedes / France / 72 Laps
6. Carlos Sainz - 1:39.444 / Renault-Renault / Spain / 109 Laps
7. Robert Kubica (PM) - 1:39.485 / Williams-Mercedes / Poland / 28 Laps
8. Stoffel Vandoorne - 1:39.782 / McLaren-Honda / Belgium / 105 Laps*
9. Kevin Magnussen - 1:39.810 / Haas-Ferrari / Denmark / 124 Laps
10. Serge Sirotkin (AM & PM) - 1:39.947 / Williams-Mercedes / Russia / 86 Laps
11. Charles Leclerc - 1:40.666 / Sauber-Ferrari / Monaco / 148 Laps
12. Lando Norris - 1:41.714 / McLaren-Honda / Great Britain / 118 Laps*
13. Brendon Hartley (PM) - 1:43.345 / Toro Rosso-Renault / New Zealand / 61 Laps
14. Pierre Gasly (AM)  - 1:44.827 / Toro Rosso-Renault / France / 63 Laps

* - Notes McLaren is running 2 cars during this test.

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Article Written By: Bethonie Waring

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Post-Season Test - Day #2 - Line-Up

POST-SEASON TEST - DAY #2 - LINE-UP

Mercedes-Mercedes: Valtteri Bottas

Ferrari-Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel

Red Bull-TAG-Heuer: Max Verstappen

Williams-Mercedes: Sergey Sirotkin (AM & PM) / Robert Kubica (PM)*

Renault-Renault: Carlos Sainz

McLaren-Honda: Lando Norris & Stoffel Vandoorne**

Toro Rosso-Renault: Pierre Gasly (AM) / Brendon Hartley (PM)*

Force India-Mercedes: Esteban Ocon (AM) / Sergio Perez (PM)*
Sauber-Ferrari: Charles Leclerc

Haas-Ferrari: Kevin Magnussen

* - Notes drivers are sharing testing duties
** - Notes McLaren is running 2 cars during this test

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

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Post-Season Test - Day #1 - Re-Cap & Times

POST-SEASON TEST - DAY #1 - RE-CAP & TIMES

   The first day of the last test of 2017 got underway on Tuesday with all teams running. Mostly all drivers stayed behind at the Yas Marina circuit to do testing for their teams and also for Pirelli, who have introduced 2 new compounds for 2018: The Hyper-Soft and Super-Hard compounds.

    Kimi Raikkonen topped the time sheets with a 1:37.768, while Ricciardo was close behind in the Red Bull with a 1:38.066. Hamilton, Grosjean and Stroll completed the top 5.

    McLaren decided to run 2 cars, following the post-Brazilian GP test cancellation. Alonso ran one car while long-time development driver and current Formula E driver, Oliver Turvey, ran the other. Alonso brought out the first red flag of the session after a crash he described as a 'kiss'. It was a small hit to the wall and he walked away unharmed. He was also able to get back out later on in the session and finished in 6th with a 1:39.762. Turvey finished last on the time-sheets with a 1:41.914.

    Williams opted to run Robert Kubica in the AM portion of the session and Stroll later on in the PM portion. Kubica, who many think will make an F1 return with the Williams team in 2018, finished in 9th and racked up a total of 100 laps. Fans were waiting in the stands, chanting and singing while waving banners and photos, showing their support for him and their obvious want to see him have a full-time seat next year. Lance Stroll finished up in 5th with a 1:39.580 and completed 29 laps.

    Sean Gelael ran for Toro Rosso, despite missing out on a seat with the team for 2018. Gelael was recently confirmed to drive for PREMA Racing team in Formula 2 next year, alongside Nyck de Vries. Gelael finished in 10th and managed to do 117 laps.

    Force India ran young Russian driver, Nikita Mazepin, who currently competes in European Formula 3. Mazepin finished in 8th with a 1:39.959 and completed 90 laps.

TIMES:

1. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:37.768 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland / 99 Laps

2. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:38.066 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Australia / 109 Laps

3. Lewis Hamilton - 1:38.551 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain / 136 Laps

4. Romain Grosjean - 1:39.270 / Haas-Ferrari / France / 137 Laps

5. Lance Stroll (PM) - 1:39.580 / Williams-Mercedes / Canada / 29 Laps

6. Fernando Alonso - 1:39.762 / McLaren-Honda / Spain / 115 Laps*

7. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:39.803 / Renault-Renault / Germany / 85 Laps

8. Nikita Mazepin - 1:39.959 / Force India-Mercedes / Russia / 90 Laps

9. Robert Kubica (AM) - 1:41.296 / Williams-Mercedes / Poland / 100 Laps

10. Sean Gelael - 1:41.428 / Toro Rosso-Renault / Indonesia / 117 Laps

11. Marcus Ericsson - 1:41.681 / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden / 97 Laps

12. Oliver Turvey - 1:41.914 / McLaren-Honda / Great Britain / 105 Laps*

* - Notes McLaren is running 2 cars during this test.

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

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Follow us on Twitter @F1Insider78 & @Bethonie_Boost 

Post-Season Test - Day #1 - Line-Up

POST-SEASON TEST - DAY #1 - LINE-UP

Mercedes-Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari-Ferrari: Kimi Raikkonen 

Red Bull-TAG-Heuer: Daniel Ricciardo

Williams-Mercedes: Robert Kubica (AM) / Lance Stroll (PM)*

Renault-Renault: Nico Hulkenberg

McLaren-Honda: Fernando Alonso & Oliver Turvey**

Toro Rosso-Renault: Sean Gelael

Force India-Mercedes: Nikita Mazepin

Sauber-Ferrari: Marcus Ericsson

Haas-Ferrari: Romain Grosjean

* - Notes drivers are sharing testing duties

** - Notes McLaren is running 2 cars during this test

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

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Follow us on Twitter @F1Insider78 & @Bethonie_Boost 

In-Season Test #4 - Abu Dhabi - Day 2 Re-Cap & Times

It was another proper day of testing at Yas Marina circuit for most teams. But once again, McLaren-Honda's running was delayed. Reserve driver for the team, Stoffel Vandoorne only got to do 3 laps on Tuesday and this time only 2. He never got a time on the board either as there were too many electrical problems. Some of them were called "Unknown" 

It was a good day for newly appointed Mercedes Reserve driver, Pascal Wehrlein who ended the day with the fastest time. Pascal is currently a driver for the DTM series but hopes to have a future in F1.

Alex Lynn also made his F1 debut in the Lotus, taking the afternoon session after Esteban Ocon drove in the morning. 

And it was more problems for Toro Rosso when a Red Flag was called due to their car stopping on track with an engine problem. However their 2015 driver Max Verstappen ended 3rd fastest, so not a bad day overall for the young Dutch driver.

Here are the times from the session.

TIMES: 

1. Pascal Wehrlein - 1:42.624 / Mercedes-Mercedes

2. Raffaele Marciello - 1:43.208 / Ferrari-Ferrari

3. Max Verstappen - 1:43.763 / Toro Rosso-Renault

4. Marcus Ericsson - 1:44.551 / Sauber-Ferrari

5. Will Stevens - 1:44.888 / Caterham-Renault

6. Spike Goddard - 1:44.944 / Force India-Mercedes

7. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:45.151 / Red Bull-Renault

8. Felipe Nasr - 1:45.937 / Williams-Mercedes

9. Alex Lynn (PM) - 1:46.168 / Lotus-Renault

10. Esteban Ocon - 1:47.013 / Lotus-Renault (AM)

11. Stoffel Vandoorne - No Time Set / McLaren-Honda

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

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#ForzaJules

In-Season Test #4 - Abu Dhabi - Day 1 Re-Cap & Times

It was a warm day of testing at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi & the teams were hard at work trying out different programs on the cars and testing out the 2015 Pirelli tyres.

McLaren-Honda also made its public debut today with GP2 driver Stoffel Vandoorne behind the wheel.

There were a few red flag's during the session. The first due to Max Verstappen crashing the Toro Rosso into the wall at turn 19. However, the young driver was not at fault as the Toro Rosso team confirmed there had been a suspension failure.

2 other red flags were due to the Force India stopping on track with Jolyon Palmer behjnd the wheel. The team confirmed it was an issue with the engine.

Here are the times from the session.

TIMES:

1. Valtteri Bottas - 1:43.396 / Williams-Mercedes

2. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:43.888 / Ferrari-Ferrari

3. Nico Rosberg - 1:44.512 / Mercedes-Mercedes

4. Jolyon Palmer - 1:44.516 / Force India-Mercedes

5. Carlos Sainz Jr. - 1:45.339 / Red Bull-Renault

6. Will Stevens - 1:45.436 / Caterham-Renault

7. Charles Pic - 1:46.167 / Lotus-Renault

8. Marcus Ericsson - 1:46.253 / Sauber-Ferrari

9. Max Verstappen - 1:47.194 / Toro Rosso-Renault

10. Stoffel Vandoorne - No Time Set / McLaren-Honda

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

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#ForzaJules