14/12/2021
NEWS STORY
Mercedes Nyck de Vries set the pace at the Yas Marina today as the Young Driver Test got underway alongside testing of the 18 inch wheels for 2022.
19 drivers were on duty, including new world champion Max Verstappen, with ten drivers focussing on next season's 18 inch tyres, albeit fitted to mule cars, while there were nine young drivers in action at the wheel of contemporary machinery.
While Haas ran Mick Schumacher in a mule car, it did not have a young driver present, however Robert Shwartzman will be in action tomorrow.
On the other hand, Williams is fielding young driver Logan Sargeant but is unable to take part in the 18-inch test as it does not have a mule car.
Among those on duty was new world champion, Max Verstappen, while Valtteri Bottas made his debut with Alfa Romeo and George Russell got to grips with the Mercedes.
Daniel Ricciardo was quickest of the 18-inch runners but eighth overall, giving a rough idea of the potential pace of the 2002 cars. Indeed, the Australian's best time (1:26.252) was 3s off the pace set by de Vries in the Young Driver test.
Other than Ricciardo, McLaren had Pato O'Ward on duty, the youngster finishing the day fourth overall.
"Today was awesome!" he said. "The car exceeded my expectations of what it's capable of - it's ridiculous how much grip there is, specifically in the fast corners - it's unbelievable.
"For sure, in the morning, my head was still on my neck. But towards the end of the day, I really think what ended up limiting me being able to go quicker was just not being able to hold my head up and see fully where I was going. My head actually was just looking down because I couldn't hold it up!
"It's such an awesome car. What a great experience, I didn't want the day to finish. I'd like to thank Zak, Andreas and everyone in the F1 team for supporting me through this incredible day."
"It's been a good day of testing to close out the 2021 season," added Ricciardo. "Getting some track time on the 2022 tyre has been really useful. We've managed to learn a lot and gather a load of data, which is useful heading into next season.
"There's still some bits we need to learn before we go racing next year but we're in a good place. Now I'm looking forward to getting home, catching up with family and taking some time off before we get back in the car in February."
"A very productive day," said Andrea Stella. "We obviously split the cars, with Daniel working on the 2022 tyres and Pato behind the wheel for the first time in a McLaren Formula 1, driving the 2021 car.
"It was very useful and interesting testing the 2022 tyres, with plenty of learning. We will review this data overnight and use it to prepare for day two as thoroughly as possible, with Lando at the wheel tomorrow. We've been very impressed with Pato's speed, his attitude and how rapidly he's learned. We look forward to another productive day tomorrow, before this long season comes to a close."
"What an amazing day," said Liam Lawson, who was second quickest in the AlphaTauri, "it's incredible how unbelievably fast these cars are.
"I've obviously driven in the simulator before and when I'm there I always think that there's no way that the car can actually be that quick in real life, but it really is. I want to say a huge thank you to Red Bull, Dr Marko and everyone that has made it possible to be here driving for Scuderia AlphaTauri today. This has been something that I've been dreaming about since I was a kid so it's just incredible and I'm really, really happy.
"I was definitely nervous pulling out of the garage for the first time, I tried not to show it, but I definitely felt it. It took me a little while to get to full throttle but when I did I thought 'holy moly that's a lot of power!' The biggest difference is just the downforce, there's significantly more than anything I'm used to. We worked on a lot of different things in the run plan today, both short and long runs with different tyres and one thing that was really cool and new to me was the live data.
"The ability to have the team update me as I'm out on track was really interesting, although you couldn't make a mistake without them knowing! Getting feedback from Yuki too was also really great, we've been teammates before, so it was good to get his understandings and learnings and it was nice to be back driving with him again. I really didn't want to get out of the car today, it's been amazing to get my first taste of F1."
"It was great to welcome Liam to the team to drive for us in the test here," said Jonathan Eddolls, the Faenza outfit's chief race engineer. "We completed a fantastic day of testing, covering a lot of kilometres in the car, so it should have been a very good learning experience for him. He adapted quickly to the handling and speed of the current Formula 1 machinery and after just the first couple of runs he had built up the pace to a level where we could start to complete some test items with him, to give him a feel of the car with a variety of car balances.
"We did the tests blind so that he had no preconceived ideas, and his technical feedback was targeted, focused on performance and aligned to the test items. Tyres are an important part of Formula 1, especially managing them over a race stint but also a single timed lap, so we exposed Liam to a variety of tyre status, run types and fuel loads. By the end of the day, he was able to manage and manipulate the temperatures to achieve the optimum lap time. It was a pleasure working with him and we can already see from this short working relationship that he has great potential and will have a very bright future in motorsport!"
"Liam Lawson drove for us today and I must say he did a very good job," said Franz Tost, "finishing 125 laps without any issues and his lap time was very competitive. He gave us good feedback throughout the day, we ran a lot of different set-ups with him and have gathered lots of really strong data. This will help us further with the general understanding of the car, whilst we have a new car next year, all the data collected today will nevertheless help us in 2022. Liam did a really great job today.
"Yuki was also on duty at the wheel and was responsible for the test programme with the new tyre that will run next year. We have collected a lot of important data there today and Pierre will conclude the test on the new 18" tyres tomorrow. This is the last test of the season and I want to say many thanks to the team for all their hard work after such a demanding season. The entire team has done a very good job."
"Logan did an excellent job today," said Dave Robson, head of vehicle performance at Williams. "This was his first time in a Formula One car, and he didn't put a foot wrong. We worked him through a full programme, which introduced him to a range of situations and experiences that are typical of a normal F1 race weekend. He completed 92 laps using the Medium and Soft tyre compounds from last weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and he adapted to the physical and mental challenges of an intense F1 programme with ease and professionalism.
"Everyone at the track and all those back in Grove who have helped prepare Logan for today are very pleased, impressed and proud to see what he achieved. Since he became part of the Williams Team in October, he has been working towards today and he has made the most of this rare opportunity to drive a current F1 race car. His experience from today puts him a great position to work with us to develop the FW44 and will also add to his skillset ahead of his next competitive race drive."
"What an incredible first day in a Formula One car," said Sargeant, who finished fifteenth overall, "it was everything I expected and more. I want to start by saying a massive thank you to Williams, as that was the experience of a lifetime. The team did a great job preparing me for today and giving me the confidence to go out there, enjoy it and do the best I could.
"We got through the run plan and I really progressed a lot throughout the test. The first couple of runs felt unbelievable with the amount of grip and power the car has, but I got used to it fairly quickly and felt comfortable by the end of the day. It's definitely a massive step up from the FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 cars; the brake performance is much better and there's a lot more downforce. The stopping power was like nothing I've felt before! The more you drive, the more you learn and the more pace you find, so I was happy with the lap times I was putting in by the time we finished today."
Check out our Tuesday gallery from Yas Marina, here.
Ferrari completed 306 laps, equivalent to almost six times the distance of Sunday's Grand Prix. The team worked on two programmes, doing most of the driving was the team's simulator driver Antonio Fuoco. He began the day in the 2021 car and then switched to the mule during the afternoon. The Italian, who also drove in this test last year with the SF1000, covered 146 laps, equivalent to around 800 kilometres.
In the morning, Charles Leclerc was the first to drive the car on 18 inch wheels, covering 87 laps, his last of this long season. "It's useful to continue to get an understanding of the new size of tyre, which is bigger than those we used to the end of this season," he said. "The wheels are very big and the feeling through the wheel is quite different. The team has acquired plenty of data, which will be useful in preparing the 2022 car. Personally, today helped me learn more about these tyres, even though I doubt the feeling from this car will be the same as those from next year's one, given that it will be conceptually very different."
In the afternoon, Robert Shwartzman drove. Having finished second in the Formula 2 championship at the weekend, the Ferrari Driver Academy student replaced Fuoco in the SF21, doing 73 laps. It was the Russian's third drive this year in a Ferrari F1 car, but it was the first time he had driven the current car.
"I drove the Scuderia F1 car for the second half of the day, which I really enjoyed a lot. I managed to get through the day's work plan with the team despite a few red flags during the session. I've also learned a few new things compared to previous tests, such start procedures, which was also very positive for me. Overall I was quite consistent with the race runs and that was one of the main targets. A big thank you to the Scuderia for this opportunity, I'm really looking forward to continuing working with them and hopefully I will get more opportunities to drive the car in the future."
Tomorrow is the final day and Carlos Sainz will be the only Ferrari driver on track, spending the whole day at the wheel of the car with 18 inch wheels. Shwartzman will not have time to watch as he is switching to the Haas, which his fellow academy student Mick Schumacher has been racing this year.
World champion, Verstappen was back at the wheel as the final test session of the year got underway, putting in 121 laps at the wheel of a car modified to test the 18" wheels, being introduced in 2022. The Dutchman was joined on day one of the two-day outing by 21-year-old Red Bull Racing Honda Junior Juri Vips as F1 gave young drivers a taste of F1 machinery. The Estonian completed 96 laps on his debut at the wheel of this year's RB16.
"It felt good to be back behind the wheel and it was good to get a feel for the new tyres," said Verstappen. "Everything went smoothly and there were no major shocks around the tyres, which is always positive. Everything changes next year and the cars will be very different, so it's good to have initial information about the tyres. It was a good day today at the end of a very long but ultimately massively rewarding season and now I'm very much looking forward to some time away from the racetrack!"
"I have been looking forward to this test for a while now," added Vips, "it is such a privilege to drive a Formula One car, even more so a Championship-winning one.
"It took my brain some time to get used to the speed of the RB16B because the pace is just crazy but then it is like any other car and you just get used to it and do your job.
"I had a small moment in the afternoon but fortunately everything was okay and I was back in the car soon after. I am super fortunate, first to be working with Red Bull but secondly to get the opportunity to drive this car."
"Today we had Juri with us for the young driver element of the test and he was effectively driving the car we raced during the Grand Prix weekend," said the team's head of race engineering, Guillaume Rocquelin. "He mostly worked to confirm the results we had throughout the season and on simulator correlation.
"Max, meanwhile, was working in a prototype car to accept the bigger 18" tyres as closely as possible to the expected regulations in terms of weight and downforce. Everything went according to plan. We had already done quite a bit work on the new tyres with Alex Albon during the season so fortunately today we could just get on with it. The car was well balanced and it was a good day."
Check out our Tuesday gallery from Yas Marina, here.