Scuderia Ferrari finished its long trip to Abu Dhabi with a day of testing at the Yas Marina circuit. Taking on the duties were its two regular drivers, who took it in turns with a F1-75 which focused on 2023 tyres for Pirelli, and test driver Robert Shwartzman who drove the other car for the whole day as part of the Young Driver Test. Overall the team completed 116 laps with Robert, 57 with Charles Leclerc in the morning and 65 with Carlos Sainz in the afternoon for a grand total of 238 laps.
Relay. Leclerc was the first driver to take to the track in the morning, trying out two different compounds: the Monegasque made his mark with a best time of 1’25”383, a lap that stayed at the top of the timesheets all the way to the break for lunch. In the afternoon Sainz then took to the wheel; his time of 1’25”225 ended up the fastest of the whole day. The Spaniard also drove with two different compounds.
Robert. Shwartzman took on the burden of the most work today. The test driver was at the wheel of the F1-75 for the third time this year, following two sessions of free practice at Austin and at Yas Marina last Friday. He lapped with three different compounds, and he set his own fastest lap of 1’25”400. Overall the two F1-75 cars completed 116 and 122 laps respectively, the equivalent of two Grand Prix race distances each.
Robert Shwartzman, Test driver
"We finished a very positive test day here in Abu Dhabi with 116 laps and a solid amount of work. The testing programme was quite comprehensive with performance runs, race simulations, tests and practice starts. I feel I made a good improvement from Friday’s FP1 and for most of the sessions I was fairly close to Charles and Carlos pace wise which is also very positive for me. There are always things to improve but I think the potential we showed was very good. In general I am also very happy with the work we did this year with the team back in Maranello on the simulator as the car feels very similar. It was great having the chance to drive for the team again and I really enjoyed today."