F1: Ferrari sizzles, Mercedes fizzles, Sargeant Shines in Abu Dhabi Test

Following Sunday’s season finale, all 10 teams stayed on at the Yas Marina Circuit for Tuesday’s one-day test to help Pirelli with 2023 tire preparation.

In summary, Ferrari sizzled with the top-3 times, Mercedes fizzled toward the back, and American rookie Logan Sargeant was impressive with the 7th best time

Carlos Sainz Jr. set the fastest time of 1m25.245s for Ferrari, edging 0.138s clear of teammate Charles Leclerc to close out the 2022 season.

Sainz was slower than the 1m23.824s lap set by Max Verstappen in qualifying Saturday, but this was a tire test, where all-out speed was not the goal.

Fernando Alonso said he was “happily surprised by everything” after his first day in the Aston Martin car.

“This year’s car is not anywhere near of what we will run next year,” said Alonso.

“It was not really to get confident or anything like that, it’s not that it’s going to be a continuation of this car or anything like that.

“For sure, they had a very strong weekend here. Sebastian Vettel qualified in front of me, so I don’t think there was much of a difference between Aston Martin and Alpine on the weekend.

“I felt basically the same as well, I felt a very competitive car. Both Aston Martins finished in the points, so it was a good car anyway.”

“When I signed for Aston Martin, I was 90% happy. When they started improving and finished the season on a high, I was 100%. This morning, I was 100 and now I’m 100-plus.”

F1’s next running will take place on February 23, the opening day of the sole pre-season test in Bahrain ahead of the 2023 campaign.

F1 Abu Dhabi post-season test results