Sainz leads Ferrari 1-2-3 in Abu Dhabi post-season F1 test

All 10 teams ran two cars for the nine-hour test which took place two days after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit, with one car used to conduct Pirelli 2023 tyre testing and one for young drivers. 

The Spaniard set a benchmark time with a 1m25.245s in the closing hours of Tuesday’s test, edging out his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc by 0.138s. 

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With Ferrari’s regular drivers sharing the legwork for the Pirelli tyre test, Robert Shwartzman was given a full day behind the wheel of the second F1-75 as he rounded out the top three, just 0.017s behind Leclerc. 

Pierre Gasly was fourth-quickest on his first appearance for Alpine, ahead of world champion Max Verstappen, who took over from Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez (13th) for the second half of the day. 

Alex Albon headed new Williams teammate Logan Sargeant - whose place on the F1 2023 grid was officially confirmed on Monday - by less than a tenth of a second in sixth. 

Completing the most mileage of any driver was Nyck de Vries, who lapped the Yas Marina track 151 times on his debut for AlphaTauri. 

Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson completed the top 10 for Aston Martin and Red Bull respectively. 

Like Gasly and de Vries, Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri and Nico Hulkenberg also made their first outings for their new teams. 

Alonso was 12th-fastest time in a sponsor-less Aston Martin due to two-time world champion still being under contract with Alpine until the end of the year. 

Following his long-running F1 contract saga, Piastri’s debut for McLaren didn’t go completely to plan, with the Australian causing a red flag in the morning when his MCL36 ground to a halt. 

The 2021 F2 champion did go on to complete 123 laps on his way to 14th overall. 

Hulkenberg was 19th-quickest and was also hit by technical gremlins on his first appearance for Haas, but the American team were able to fix the problem, enabling the German to get back out on track. 

Following a two-month winter break, F1 cars will next be on track together for the opening day of pre-season testing ahead of the 2023 campaign on February 23.