Abu Dhabi Test Day 1: Raikkonen fastest

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen ended day one of the Pirelli test at Yas Marina Circuit, in Abu Dhabi, fastest of all using the all-new hypersoft compound tyres.

Although the test is run to allow teams to familiarise themselves with the 2018 Pirelli compounds, Williams used the opportunity to evaluate Robert Kubica with the view to having the Pole race for them next season. Full report here>>>

Raikkonen’s best lap time of 1:37.768 was enough for him to end top of the timing screens when the chequered flag waved to bring the day to an end.

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo was second fastest with a flurry of hot laps in the final hour of the day, racing up 109 laps in the process.

Lewis Hamilton did 136 laps, only bettered by one other driver, and with it bid farewell to the Mercedes W08 which took him to a fourth Formula 1 world title this season.

Haas driver Romain Grosjean was fourth fastest and recorded the most laps during the course of the first day.

Also on duty for Williams, getting into the cockpit with a couple of hours to go, was Lance Stroll who managed 29 laps, compared to Kubica who spent the bulk of the day in the FW40 and completed 100 laps in total. He was ninth fastest but only sampled the Pirelli soft tyres during his stints.

An early morning crash did not deter McLaren driver Fernando Alonso who returned to action a few hours later and ended the day with 115 laps to his credit. It was his last run with Honda power as the team switches to Renault for next year.

Nico Hulkenberg was next up in seventh for Renault, ahead of Russian youngster Nikita Mazepin, who did 90 laps in the Force India.

Sean Gelael was on duty for Toro Rosso, he survived a spin without any damage and went on to rack up 117 laps, finishing 10th fastest in the process.

Marcus Ericcson clocked 97 laps in the Sauber to finish 11th on the timing sheets, ahead of Oliver Turvey in the other McLaren.

Turvey was running on a totally separate program to the rest of the drivers, using unmarked Pirelli prototype tyres which was part of the programme that the team was going to run in a test after the Brazilian Grand Prix but was postponed due to security reasons.

Abu Dhabi Pirelli Test, Yas Marina Circuit – Best Lap Times