[ad_1]
Abu Dhabi – Formula 1 teams closed the shutters at the final race of the season on Wednesday with new Ferrari driver Leclerc leading the lap times at a tire test in Abu Dhabi.
Leclerc had already done tests on Ferrari, but the last day of testing was the first Monegasque 21-year-old in the red car as the official driver of the most glamorous and most successful team in the world.
Ferrari announced in September that Leclerc, who was racing for Sauber this season, should replace 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen alongside Sebastian Vettel in 2019.
Ferrari said Leclerc had run 135 laps in the SF71H car, now retired, equivalent to two and a half distances from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with a best time of one minute 36.450. seconds on Pirelli's hypersoft tires.
"Of course, it was moving because driving a Ferrari is special and because it was a day that I had been waiting for so long without being sure it would happen someday," he said. he declares.
"We went through our entire program, which focused on benchmarking tests between this year's tires and next year's tires.
"For me, it was important because I also knew the team better, although some of them are not unknown to me because of my time at Ferrari Driver Academy."
The teams were able to test the entire range of 2019 tires as well as those of 2018.
Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was the only driver on the team he had raced with this year.
Frenchman Pierre Gasly tried the Red Bull after leaving Toro Rosso, while Spain's Carlos Sainz made 150 laps for McLaren after leaving Renault.
"From the first lap to the 150th lap, I appreciated them all, the feeling was good and we were able to finish the season in the best possible way and as soon as I stepped out of the box, I felt comfortable in the car, "said Sainz.
The Swiss driver F2 Louis Deletraz, who will not participate in Formula 1 next year, made his test debut with the US team Haas and made 117 laps.
Reuters
[ad_2]
Source link
