Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo kept Red Bull Racing on top of the timing charts in Abu Dhabi when he set the best time in the opening day of the Young Drivers test.
Ricciardo, a Red Bull protégé who finished second in Formula Renault 3.5 this year, consistently led the times throughout the day, working his way down to a lap of 1m39.616s.
His time was only 0.222 second off Sebastian Vettel's pole position time for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (1m39.394s), albeit a lap set the previous Saturday when the track offered less grip than today.
Ricciardo was the only driver to break the 1m40 mark today.
Briton Oliver Turvey was second in the McLaren while F3 Euroseries competitor Antonio Felix da Costa surprised the onlookers with a strong performance, claiming third place in the Mercedes-powered Force India. The Portuguese finished the day ahead of Sauber reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez.
Dean Stoneman, the new Formula 2 champion, improved to fifth place late on in the Williams-Cosworth. He set his best time with a few minutes to go to move ahead of Renault's Mikhail Aleshin.
Most teams admitted that their had their young drivers working mainly on aerodynamic work and destined to assist the design of next year’s car as well as tire data-gathering. Very few teams elected to unleash their young charges for flat-out runs on a new set of Bridgestone tires.
Ricciardo, a Red Bull protégé who finished second in Formula Renault 3.5 this year, consistently led the times throughout the day, working his way down to a lap of 1m39.616s.
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| Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull (Photo: WRI2) |
His time was only 0.222 second off Sebastian Vettel's pole position time for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (1m39.394s), albeit a lap set the previous Saturday when the track offered less grip than today.
Ricciardo was the only driver to break the 1m40 mark today.
Briton Oliver Turvey was second in the McLaren while F3 Euroseries competitor Antonio Felix da Costa surprised the onlookers with a strong performance, claiming third place in the Mercedes-powered Force India. The Portuguese finished the day ahead of Sauber reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez.
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| Jules Bianchi, Ferrari (Photo: WRI2) |
Dean Stoneman, the new Formula 2 champion, improved to fifth place late on in the Williams-Cosworth. He set his best time with a few minutes to go to move ahead of Renault's Mikhail Aleshin.
Most teams admitted that their had their young drivers working mainly on aerodynamic work and destined to assist the design of next year’s car as well as tire data-gathering. Very few teams elected to unleash their young charges for flat-out runs on a new set of Bridgestone tires.
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| Sam Bird, Mercedes (Photo: WRI2) |