Pirelli Tests – Abu Dhabi: Charles Leclerc Fastest with Ferrari
The two days of testing organized by Pirelli to test the new 2019 tires concluded on the Abu Dhabi track with Charles Leclerc setting the fastest time in his new Ferrari colors.
Pirelli organized two days of testing with the 10 teams on the grid to test its new tires planned for 2019. In addition to the 5 new compounds, numbered from 1 to 5, from hardest to softest, the Italian manufacturer also provided the 5 tires for obvious comparisons.
So that you can keep track of what’s going on at the @ymcofficial test, we’ve prepared this handy guide to next year’s tyres… #F1 pic.twitter.com/gYkcUgvmTQ
— Pirelli Motorsport (@Pirellisport) 27 novembre /f1/actualite/23045-essais-Pirelli-abu-dhabi-la-liste-des-pilotes-presents.html
Day 1: Tuesday, November 27
The main attraction of this first day was Kimi Räikkönen’s return to Sauber. Authorized by Ferrari to participate in this day with his new team, the Finn appeared in a white suit with modified helmet colors.
Very diligent on track, the 3rd in the world championship completed 102 laps at the wheel of the C33 with a time of 1:39.88 achieved with the 2019 compound No. 5, the softest tire.
#Kimi7 at work, preparing for the 2019 season.
Read about Day 1 of #F1Testing here: https://t.co/2uflVFq3JU
#Alfaromeosauberf1team pic.twitter.com/cW3SSCh88Z
— Sauber F1 Team (@SauberF1Team) 27 novembre /f1/actualite/23045-essais-Pirelli-abu-dhabi-la-liste-des-pilotes-presents.html
Among the other novelties on the Yas Marina track was Pietro Fittipaldi with the Haas team, which had chosen to let its two main drivers rest to give track time to its reserve and development drivers.
Lance Stroll was also present behind the wheel of the Racing Point Force India, thus confirming his transfer even though nothing official has been announced yet.
The best time of this first day was achieved by Sebastian Vettel with 1:36.812 but with Hyper soft tires.
Day 1 of @F1 #F1Testing at @ymcofficial completed! Here are all the results! 🏁#AbuDhabiTest pic.twitter.com/XlwGXDIsDz
— Pirelli Motorsport (@Pirellisport) 27 novembre /f1/actualite/23045-essais-Pirelli-abu-dhabi-la-liste-des-pilotes-presents.html
Day 2: Wednesday, November 28
This second and final day of testing provided the opportunity to see Pierre Gasly’s debut with Red Bull. The French driver completed a total of 129 laps to record the second fastest time of the day, behind another newcomer to his new team, Charles Leclerc, at the wheel of the Ferrari.
The Monegasque will have already impressed his team by setting the fastest time at 1:36.450 with 2019 no. 5 tires, thus beating Sebastian Vettel’s time set the day before.
In the new arrivals section, Carlos Sainz also made his debut at the wheel of the McLaren with a Renault engine. The Spaniard was one of the most dedicated on track with 150 laps, only surpassed by the returning Daniil Kvyat at the wheel of the Toro Rosso, who completed 155 laps.
Nice colours, @Carlossainz55. 👌 #AbuDhabiTest pic.twitter.com/dbdCAFtSHC
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) 28 novembre /f1/actualite/23045-essais-Pirelli-abu-dhabi-la-liste-des-pilotes-presents.html
At Haas, it was Louis Delétraz who took the seat in the American single-seater for his first laps in Formula 1. It should be noted that on the Mercedes side, it was Valtteri Bottas who was in charge of the two-day program, as Lewis Hamilton was given time off by his team.
Day 2 of #F1Testing at @ymcofficial comes to a close! Check out the results from our #Fit4F1 running! 🏁#AbuDhabiTest pic.twitter.com/KYalVcKnuH
— Pirelli Motorsport (@Pirellisport) 28 novembre /f1/actualite/23045-essais-Pirelli-abu-dhabi-la-liste-des-pilotes-presents.html
The final standings of these two days see the domination of Ferrari, Charles Leclerc ahead of Sebastian Vettel, with the softest tires of /f1/actualite/23045-essais-Pirelli-abu-dhabi-la-liste-des-pilotes-presents.html and 2019.
Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Head of Motorsport, thus sees a large amount of data coming in that will be useful to the Italian manufacturer to begin defining its choices for the 2019 season: Teams were able to get an initial valuable read on the 2019 tires over the two days of testing, with the entire range available, as well as all tires for comparison purposes. All teams were able to define their own race plans and choose the tires they wanted to test. It was therefore not easy to draw immediate conclusions on the track. We have collected a lot of data, which we are just beginning to analyze, and we will need to analyze them quickly, as the compounds for Australia need to be defined in a week.
According to initial findings made by the Italian firm, the new 2019 compounds are less prone to graining than their predecessors: « The new compound 5 was functioning as expected: similar to the Hyper Soft from /f1/actualite/23045-essais-Pirelli-abu-dhabi-la-liste-des-pilotes-presents.html but with reduced graining compared to what we can see so far. However, Abu Dhabi is not a circuit with particularly fast corners, so that’s an important factor to consider. »
The overall ranking of the two days:
That wraps up our #F1Testing at the #AbuDhabiTest! After two days of intense #Fit4F1 running we’re eager to return in 2019.
Here’s our full report: https://t.co/8j3JtEgtLq pic.twitter.com/1ezNRrAPUI— Pirelli Motorsport (@Pirellisport) 28 novembre /f1/actualite/23045-essais-Pirelli-abu-dhabi-la-liste-des-pilotes-presents.html
