Jean-Eric Vergne has topped the third and final young driver test in Abu Dhabi, similar to Daniel Ricciardo last year.
The Frenchman was only 4 tenths of a second slower than Sebastian Vettel’s pole position time here last week. He led Sam Bird and Jules Bianchi by well over 2 seconds.
Bird tested 2012-spec exhausts for Mercedes, which do not feature any off-throttle blowing of the diffuser like this year.
Oliver Turvey drove the McLaren all day, replacing Gary Paffett from yesterday. Max Chilton was 5th, ahead of Esteban Gutierrez and Mirko Bortolotti, who was testing for Williams.
Kevin Ceccon was 8th for Toro Rosso, ahead of Alexander Rossi for Lotus. Jan Charouz drove a Renault today, taking 10th, while Stefano Coletti was ahead of Nathanael Berthon. Virgin again split their running between Robert Wickens and Charles Pic, with both drivers finishing at the back.
Teams ran using a mixture of 2011 and 2012 Pirelli tyres on a variety of fuel loads.
Times from day 3:
1. Jean-Eric Vergne Red Bull-Renault 1:38.917
2. Sam Bird Mercedes GP 1:40.897
3. Jules Bianchi Ferrari 1:41.347
4. Olivier Turvey McLaren-Mercedes 1:41.513
5. Max Chilton Force India-Mercedes 1:41.575
6. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:42.049
7. Mirko Bortolotti Williams-Cosworth 1:43.277
8. Kevin Ceccon Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:43.686
9. Alexander Rossi Lotus-Renault 1:44.283
10. Jan Charouz Renault 1:44.470
11. Stefano Coletti Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:44.545
12. Nathanael Berthon HRT-Cosworth 1:45.839
13. Robert Wickens Virgin-Cosworth 1:45.934
14. Charles Pic Virgin-Cosworth 1:46.348
Jean-Eric Vergne set the pace on the first day of the young driver test in Abu Dhabi.
Jules Bianchi tested a strange aero device
The 21-year-old, who recently tested for Toro Rosso and finished 2nd in this year’s Formula Renault 3.5 Series, set a time of 1:40.011 - 1.530 seconds slower than Sebastian Vettel’s pole position time last Saturday.
He was nearly a second faster than Ferrari test driver Jules Bianchi, who tested a ridiculous-looking aerodynamic device on the side of his car in the morning. Robert Wickens, driving for Renault, was another 1.3 seconds behind.
Fabio Lemer, the fastest driver of the day to never drive an F1 car before, was 4th for Sauber. McLaren shared their car between 30-year-old Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey finishing 5th and 8th respectively.
GP2 driver Max Chilton (whose brother Tom drives in touring cars) was 6th for Force India. Valtteri Bottas finished in 7th in the Williams FW32.
Mercedes GP test driver Sam Bird was 9th, ahead of Rodolfo Gonzalez (Lotus) and Stefano Coletti (Toro Rosso – also another newcomer to an F1 car). Dani Clos was 12th for HRT.
The two slowest drivers of the day were both Virgin Racing drivers. Charles Pic – who is widely tipped to join the team next year – finished three tenths faster than Adrian Quaife-Hobbs.
Bottas was the only driver to suffer serious technical failure, losing several hours of running time due to a gearbox problem.
Times from day 1:
1. Jean-Eric Vergne Red Bull-Renault 1:40.011 83
2. Jules Bianchi Ferrari 1:40.960 85
3. Robert Wickens Renault 1:42.217 78
4. Fabio Leimer Sauber-Ferrari 1:42.331 67
5. Gary Paffett McLaren-Mercedes 1:42.912 41
6. Max Chilton Force India-Mercedes 1:43.016 81
7. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Cosworth 1:43.118 71
8. Oliver Turvey McLaren-Mercedes 1:43.502 35
9. Sam Bird Mercedes GP 1:43.548 51
10. Rodolfo Gonzalez Lotus-Renault 1:44.022 87
11. Stefano Coletti Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:45.278 87
12. Dani Clos HRT-Cosworth 1:45.329 68
13. Charles Pic Virgin-Cosworth 1:46.930 30
14. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Virgin-Cosworth 1:47.292 32
Red Bull has announced that their 2010 reserve drivers to be Daniel Ricciardo and Brendon Hartley. Both of these drivers are already in the Red Bull junior team.
Brendon Hartley
It is also understood that the two drivers will alternate reserve driver duties on a race-by-race basis.
Ricciardo impressed last year in the young driver test in December, while Hartley was reserve driver for both Red Bull and Toro Rosso last year.
When asked about this, Ricciardo said:
“It’s very exciting. It was an email I was hoping for since the test in December, but I wasn’t sure whether it would come at all. So, a big relief, but also very satisfying.”
“This will be a very good introduction to F1 – even though I won’t be driving the car, just to sit in on the briefings and do what the drivers do on a weekend is a good way to start learning. It’s all exciting and I’ll be busy, even though I’m not driving.”
At the moment, Australian Ricciardo is the reigning British Formula Three champion. In 200, he raced in the Italian Formula Renault series, and in 2008 won the Formula Renault West European cup, with 8 wins. Last year, he won the British F3 series with 2 races to spare. I’m expecting him to be in Formula 1 in the next few years, as his racing history shows he has a huge amount of talent.
Here’s a great overtake in the British F3 championship from Ricciardo:
And a burnout as well
Kiwi Brendon Hartley started in 2006 in Formula Renault 2.0. In 2007 he won the Eurocup title, and in 2008 raced in British F3 just like Ricciardo. Here, he finised 3rd, behind Jaime Alguersuari and Oliver Turvey. In 2009, he competed in the Formula 3 Euroseries. I don’t know as much about him, but he clearly deserves the opportunity to be in the Red Bull junior team.
Here’s a video I found about him when he competed in the famous F3 Macau Grand Prix:
As always, I love to see the new guys get a chance in Formula1. Both have lots of talent, and deserve this opportunity. Hopefully we can see them racing in F1 in a few years time.
Today was the first day of testing for the 2010 season. The cars were all 2009 spec, as testing 2010 parts or models is still banned until February. Over the next three days, 19 young drivers for 9 teams will take part. Today, the following drivers were present:
BMW – Alexander Rossi (USA)
Brawn GP (Mercedes) – Mike Conway (GBR) and Marcus Ericsson (SWE)
Ferrari – Jules Bianchi (FER)
Force India – Paul di Resta (GBR) and JR Hildebrand (USA)
McLaren – Oliver Turvey (GBR)
Red Bull – Daniel Ricciardo (AUS)
Renault – Bertrand Baguette (BEL)
Toro Rosso – Brendon Hartley (NZ)
Williams – Andy Soucek (ESP)
For McLaren, Gary Paffett took most of the testing day, but 90 minutes were given at the end to Oliver Turvey, as part of winning the 2006 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award. He only completed 27 laps, but improved his times more than anyone else in this time.
Andy Soucek set the pace today in the Williams, despite a spin and stall at the Michelin hairpin, which brought out the red flags. Also, Brendon Hartley spun his Toro Rosso into the barriers between the chicane and the Ferrari curve, which knocked off the front-right wheel and nose of the car.
Oliver Turvey, driving the Team Loctite Renault World Series car
Oliver Turvey will make his Formula 1 testing debut with McLaren, in Jerez in Spain this week.
Turvey has been handed the testing role as part of his prize for winning the 2006 McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award. He says that he cannot wait to get out on track:
“I’ve gone over this moment so many times in my mind, so it’s very exciting to be getting this opportunity to test with the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team at Jerez this week. My aim is to enjoy the experience, but also to learn as much as I can from it. If possible, I’d also like to be able to help the team with their preparations for the 2010 season.”
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: “We’re extremely proud of our commitment to young talent and the efforts we’ve made to ensure the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winners are given the experience of a lifetime when they test with us. A drive in a race-wining Formula 1 car is every racing driver’s dream, and I’m sure Oliver will use this week’s test as the perfect opportunity to broaden his experience as he continues his successful single-seater career.”
Turvey will drive McLaren’s MP4-24 as part of the winter testing schedule, alongside Gary Paffett.
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