Abu Dhabi young driver test

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Moved into its own thread, as I think it deserves one

Day 1 times
Code: 
Pos  Driver                  Car          Time
 1.  Daniel Ricciardo        Red Bull     1m39.616s
 2.  Oliver Turvey           McLaren      1m40.725s
 3.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Force India  1m41.381s
 4.  Esteban Gutierrez       Sauber       1m41.432s
 5.  Dean Stoneman           Williams     1m41.522s
 6.  Mikhail Aleshin         Renault      1m42.073s
 7.  Jean-Eric Vergne        Toro Rosso   1m42.489s
 8.  Paul di Resta           Force India  1m42.736s
 9.  Sam Bird                Mercedes     1m42.985s
10.  Jerome D'Ambrosio       Virgin       1m43.518s
11.  Pastor Maldonado        HRT          1m43.750s
12.  Jules Bianchi           Ferrari      1m43.894s
13.  Rodolfo Gonzalez        Lotus        1m44.924s
14.  Rio Haryanto            Virgin       1m49.439s

Some of the times are misleading as it would seem that some drivers were doing development/aerodynamic work and weren't going for times, Bird and Bianchi among them.

Pastor Maldonado went 1.3 seconds faster than Senna did in qualifying (1.5 faster than Klein) :cool: and D'Ambrosio beat the 2 regular Virgins too.

Autosport Report
 
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Also, maybe I'm mistaken, but they are lapping in a warmer track (surely warmer than Q3)

In any case, impressive!
 
Are they running during the day now, instead of the evening the qual/race was run in?
 
Yes, from what I've read the tests were conducted both this morning and this afternoon, but couldn't find the exact schedule anywhere.
 
How the hell can they be so fast? How can Maldonado be over 1 and a half seconds faster than Senna and Klien in a car that's a dog to drive, after only 1 day in it? Are they cutting out some track or something?
 
I don't like to toot my own horn ,but I think I could do better. I think I have a good feel for the limits of an F1 car. :D
 
Also to go with the different time of day there is no worry about conserving an engine for a next race.
Still impressive that Ricciardo got so close to the pole time on the first day.
It does seem some of the lower teams are trying out new parts for their cars which is understandable given the lack of in season testing. Hopefully that sort of improvement from Virgin and HRT can continue into next year.
 
I wouldn't mind though, that Daniel Ricciardo guy is a really, really a fast guy... He had been doing great in Formula Renault 3.5 too!

Hopefully he gets a seat in one of those as soon as possible :D
 
Peter
I don't like to toot my own horn ,but I think I could do better. I think I have a good feel for the limits of an F1 car. :D
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Would be hard to find the limit of that car if you're having to deal with 4g's of acceleration, braking and cornering forces :sly:.

I think that might be a contributing factor to his lack of speed today (coupled with the fact that he's only done Formula BMW and one season of GP3). Everyone else had plenty of Formula 3, WSBR 3.5 or GP2 experience. He probably would've gone quicker had Virgin not had that gearbox issue (He only did 21 laps I think).

In any case it's nice to see this young driver test taking place. Getting a test in Formula 1 before they had this program running was hard enough already let alone convincing a team you deserve a race drive!
 
Times from the morning of the second day from planetF1
Times
1. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull RB6 1:39.548 45 laps
2. Jules Bianchi Ferrari F10 1:40.635 62 laps
3. Jerome d'Ambrosio Renault R30 1:40.863 27 laps
4. Gary Paffett McLaren MP4-25 1:40.879 46 laps
5. Paul di Resta Force India VJM-03 1:40.901 27 laps
6. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso STR5 1:40.974 43 laps
7. Sam Bird Mercedes GP W01 1:41.084 46 laps
8. Sergio Perez Sauber C29 1:41.894 38 laps
9. Pastor Maldonado Williams FW28 1:42.850 46 laps
10. Liuz Razia Virgin Racing VR-01 1:43.950 42 laps
11. Rodolfo Gonzalez Lotus F1 T127 44.312 41 laps
12. Josef Kral Hispania F110 1:44.752 54 laps
13. Yelmer Buurman Force India VJM-03 1:45.120 14 laps
- Vladimir Arabadzhiev Lotus F1 T127 0 laps
- Davide Valsecchi Hispania F110 0 laps
- Antonio Félix da Costa Force India VJM-03 0 laps

Ricciardo fastest again and slightly quicker than yesterday although some of the others are starting to find their feet by the looks of it.
Full story: http://planetf1.com/news/18227/6512129/Ricciardo-still-top-but-pack-improves
 
Aren't those guys running with the new Pirelli tires? I would suspect those may be softer than the Bridgestone ones, because I really can't believe a rookie got a faster lap than championship contender Mark Webber. Also the teams could be running modifications for the next season too.
 
tibiquera
I really can't believe a rookie got a faster lap than championship contender Mark Webber. Also the teams could be running modifications for the next season too.
Click to expand...
As noted already, the test is happening during the day, when the qual/race was run in the evening. Running during the day means track and tyres will be hotter and that equals more grip.
 
daan
As noted already, the test is happening during the day, when the qual/race was run in the evening. Running during the day means track and tyres will be hotter and that equals more grip.
Click to expand...

In addition to this, there's been an entire race weekend of rubber layed down on the track, so the track itself is a lot more grippy than it was during qualifying.
 
Not to mention that the cars can be running a "pure" qualifying setup instead of one optimized for burning off a full tank of fuel during two hours.
 

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