Haas F1 Team: Abu Dhabi Test, Day 1 Recap

Haas F1 Team Photo

The first of two days of Pirelli tire testing at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi began Tuesday with Pietro Fittipaldi making his Formula One debut representing Haas F1 Team. All 10 teams that competed in the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship were present.

Fittipaldi logged 56 laps around the 5.554-kilometer (3.451-mile), 21-turn track. His quickest time was a 1:39.201, earned on his 41st lap on a set of Pirelli P Zero Pink hypersoft tires. It placed him eighth among the 12 drivers who participated.

Fittipaldi wasted little time getting onto the track when it opened at 9 a.m. local time, making his installation lap on the Purple ultrasoft tire. A 17-lap wake-up run on the same compound followed. The morning program then stopped abruptly due to an electrical power unit issue as Fittipaldi began his next out-lap shortly before 11 a.m.

After an extended stay in the garage for a power unit change, Fittipaldi returned to the track just after 4 p.m. He quickly cycled through back-to-back comparison runs utilizing Pirelli’s 2018 and 2019 soft and hypersoft rubber. He totaled 38 laps to close a productive final two hours of track time.

Scuderia Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time (1:36.812) with Toro Rosso’s Sean Gelael recording the most laps (150).

“It was an amazing day. I’m very happy to have had my first drive in a Formula One car. The braking power of the car, the acceleration, the speeds you carry through the corners, it was just insane. The car is so fast. It’s just stuck to the ground. The amount of downforce it has is unbelievable. We had small issues at the beginning of the day, but the team got them sorted. They really did a fantastic job to get back out there, and then in the afternoon we worked through the plan we had. We compared the 2018 tires to the 2019s from Pirelli. I tried to give the engineers my best feedback so they can start working on that information. The team has given me a huge opportunity to be testing with them next year. I’ll learn as much as I can, but also help them with developing the car for 2019 and throughout the season. It was a really good test.”