Next up were British pair of Sam Bird (Mercedes, 3rd) and Gary Paffett (McLaren 4th), while Jules Bianchi continued the programme his began yesterday, registering the 5th fastest time in the process in the midst of a 93-lap day. Pastor Maldonado had an interrupted session in his début with the Williams team – the Venezuelan secured the 8th quickest lap time, despite sensor failures in the afternoon. Next up was Jean-Eric Vergne in the Toro Rosso; although the new British Formula 3 Champion missed out on the final hours of the session; he has to begin a long journey to China for this weekend’s Macau Grand Prix.
Hispania Racing ran GP2 Asia champion, Davide Valsecchi in the afternoon, following on from Josef Král in the morning; while Luiz Razia completed a 70 lap run for Virgin Racing. The Lotus pairing of Rodolfo Gonzalez and Vladimir Arabadzhiev brought up the rear in terms of times – they notched up 90 laps between them.
There were several red flag stoppages today, most notably for a spin by d’Ambrosio in his Renault; however there were other red flags for either debris or cars being stopped on circuit. Once again, it is impossible to truly read much into the laptimes – each driver programme may entail vastly different projects, while there is no doubt that the circuit conditions are also changing on a consistent basis.
Abu Dhabi, Young Driver Test (November 17th)
Pos Driver Car Time Laps 1. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1m38.102s 77 2. Jerome D'Ambrosio Renault 1m38.802s 83 3. Sam Bird Mercedes 1m39.220s 82 4. Gary Paffett McLaren 1m39.760s 84 5. Jules Bianchi Ferrari 1m39.916s 93 6. Sergio Perez Sauber 1m40.543s 91 7. Paul di Resta Force India 1m40.901s 27 8. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m40.944s 81 9. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m40.974s 61 10. Yelmer Buurman Force India 1m41.178s 67 11. Davide Valsecchi Hispania 1m43.013s 32 12. Luiz Razia Virgin 1m43.525s 70 13. Josef Kral Hispania 1m44.143s 61 14. Rodolfo Gonzalez Lotus 1m44.312s 41 15. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Lotus 1m45.723s 49
