Delays, mysterious crash and Esteban Ocon fastest: What happened in F1’s post-season Abu Dhabi test?
The Alpine driver ended the day - which featured a combined Pirelli tyre and young driver test - with the fastest time on a 1m24.393s, nearly three-tenths faster 🌱than his nearest rival.&n🌳bsp;
Pato O’Ward was the𒐪 quickest of the rookie drivers as he took second for McLaren, ahead of F2 vice champion Frederik Vesti in the Mercedes.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was fourth-fastest, while Carlos Sainz, who set the pace in the morning, ended up fourth for Ferrari, ahead of fellow Spaniard and Aston Mart𝔍in dr𒁏iver Fernando Alonso.
Alpine reserve Jack Doohan waꦐs seventh, ahead o🐷f Ferrari back-up Robert Shwartzman and Logan Sargeant, whose future at Williams remains up in the air.
Charles Leclerc rounded out the top-10 as he and Sainz split tyre testi🅠ng duties for Pirelli.
Newly-crowned F2 champion ✤and Alfa Romeo reserve Theo Pourchaire took 11th, while Aston Martin’s Felipe Drugovich and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunod♌a were 12th and 13th.
Formula E champion Jake Dennis got another chance to drive Red B🐷ull’s dominant RB19 and finished 14th, ahead of Ayumu Iwasa, who made his F1 debut for AlphaTauri.
Iwasa caused a late red flag during the final hour of ♔runnin༺g when his AlphaTauri broke down with smoke pouring out of the rear.
Meanwhile, George Russell’s day came to a premature end🦹 i🍬n the morning after the Briton crashed at Turn 6 which triggered a red flag and a Mercedes investigation into a suspected car failure.
Another F1 debutant, Franco Colapinto, finished 22nd fo🌠r Wi🌄lliams.
The day got off to a delayed start due to the medical helicopter not sho♔wing up on time for the planned 9am green flag, before a water leak under the W Hotel bridge led to a🎃 further stoppage.
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