Bottas ends first day of Abu Dhabi testing in the lead

Mainly dedicated to testing the 2020 Pirelli tires, the day of testing at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi saw Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) sign the best time in 1'37″124 on 4 red C2019 tires, a time to be compared in particular to the pole of Lewis Hamilton last Saturday in 1'34″779.

The search for the time was not fundamental this Tuesday on the track, and Bottas finished with 138 laps on the odometer of his W10, and ahead by more than eight tenths Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), wearing C5 2020 rubber. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Sergio Pérez (Racing Point F1) and Romain Grosjean (Haas) enter the top 5 with the same tires as the Ferrari driver.

Note that contact occurred between Pérez and Vettel during the day.

Contact between Checo and Seb! #F1Testing  pic.twitter.com/mgTrKXKorU

- Formula 1 (@ F1) December 3, 2019

Back in action with Renault F1 Team, Esteban Ocon completed 77 laps, with the 8th fastest time in 1'39″962. Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo) is in 10th place, not without having encountered a technical problem with his car which brought a premature end to the session of the team led by Frédéric Vasseur.

Sean Gelael (Toro Rosso) and Roy Nissany (Williams) were also in action, with the last two times 4″5 and 7″6 behind Valtteri Bottas’ benchmark.

Ranked 7th behind Lando Norris (McLaren) on a chronometric level, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) finished on the other hand with the greatest number of laps on the clock this Tuesday (153), followed by Grosjean (146).