- Abu Dhabi Test - Day Two
Wehrlein tops final test day as McLaren-Honda has more issues
In a fitting end to the 2014 season, Mercedes' reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein topped the timesheets on the final day of Abu Dhabi's post-season test.
Behind the wheel of the all-conquering W05-Hybrid, Wehrlein clocked a 1:44.050 to leave the world champion team in the position it has become accustomed to for the majority of year. The 20-year-old German drives for Mercedes in DTM and joined the team as its reserve in September. His lap came late in the day and was 0.584s faster than his nearest rival.
Once again, McLaren struggled to cover any significant mileage with its new Honda power unit as it struggled to identify an electrical gremlin for the entire morning. It eventually broke cover at 16:30 and completed one lap under its own power before a second attempt only made it as far as the second sector. Team boss Eric Boullier insists McLaren was treating any track time as a bonus this week as it looks to the long winter break to solve its issues before hitting the track again in February in Jerez.
GP2 driver Raffele Marciello was second fastest in the Ferrari as he took over testing duties from Kimi Raikkonen. Marciello is a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy and completed a total of 86 laps in his first outing in a current F1 car, setting a 1:43.208 in his final few laps to jump ahead of Max Verstappen. After a suspension failure caused him to crash on Tuesday, Verstappen completed 78 laps in the Toro Rosso on Wednesday to help prepare him ahead of his first full season in F1 at the age of 17 in 2015.
Marcus Ericsson topped off his two days of testing with his new Sauber team with the fourth fastest time. After completing over 100 laps the ex-Caterham driver set about chasing lap times at the end of the session and clocked a 1:44.551 in the final five minutes of the day.
Caterham brought its 2014 season, and possibly its time in F1, to a close with the fifth fastest time. The team's one-off Abu Dhabi GP race driver, Will Stevens, completed his second day at the wheel and added 76 laps of valuable F1 experience to his CV before the car came to a halt in the afternoon.
F3 driver Spike Goddard made his F1 debut in the Force India and completed 87 laps with a best time of 1:44.944 ahead of race regular Daniel Ricciardo, who completed 88 laps in the familiar surroundings of his Red Bull. His day came to an early end when the car caught fire with around two hours remaining, but the Australian was soon back in the garage laughing and joking with his mechanics.
Felipe Nasr signed off his last day as a Williams reserve driver with 83 laps and a best time of 1:45.151 before he moves to Sauber next year as a race driver. GP3 champion Alex Lynn completed an afternoon in the Lotus with 52 laps after being handed the car by F3 champion Esteban Ocon, who completed 34 laps in the morning.
Times at lunch break:
1. Pascal Wehrlein Mercedes 1:42.624 96 laps 2. Raffaele Marciello Ferrari 1:43.208 90 laps 3. Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:43.763 78 laps 4. Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:44.551 112 laps 5. Will Stevens Caterham 1:44.888 43 laps 6. Spike Goddard Force India 1:44.944 89 laps 7. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:45.151 88 laps 8. Felipe Nasr Williams 1:45.937 83 laps 9. Alex Lynn Lotus 1:46.168 52 laps 10. Esteban Ocon Lotus 1:47.013 34 laps 11. Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren No time 2 laps
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