• Abu Dhabi Young Driver Test

Magnussen top on first day for McLaren

Kevin Magnussen was less than 0.1s clear of Antonio Felix da Costa's Red Bull © Sutton Images

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• Report:
• Da Costa fastest on second day
  
• News:
• 'You don't know what to expect' - Frijns
  
• News:
• Da Costa focused on learning from Red Bull
  

• Drivers:
• Robin Frijns
• |
• Luiz Razia
• |
• Giedo van der Garde

• Teams:
• Alfa Romeo
• |
• Caterham
• |
• Lotus F1
• |
• McLaren
• |
• Red Bull
• |
• Toro Rosso

Kevin Magnussen set the fastest time of the opening day of the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi.

Driving for McLaren in the morning session, Magnussen was the busiest driver as he completed 40 laps with a best time of 1:42.651. He edged out Antonio Felix da Costa by just 0.066s before handing over the McLaren to Gary Paffett for the afternoon session, and said that his running had been "not easy ... but I felt comfortable with the car".

Magnussen and da Costa's Red Bull were over three quarters of a second clear of the rest, as da Costa completed the most laps over the whole day with 79. Paffett set the third quickest time with his last lap having taken over the MP4-27 from Magnussen, ending with a best of 1:43.407.

Robin Frijns was fourth on a 1:43.775, and Sauber appeared to be testing a similar rear wing device to the Lotus solution seen at previous races as Frijns focused on familiarising himself with a Formula One car during 78 laps at the wheel.

Nicolas Prost was fifth quickest for Lotus with a 1:44.194 set late in the day as a number of short runs were carried out following a red flag caused by Luiz Razia with ten minutes remaining.

Razia was sixth for Toro Rosso in a 1:44.691, while Giedo van der Garde was slowest having spent the morning running aero tests, with a transition vortex rake on the left side of the car to look at airflow from the front wing. The aero tests continued in to the afternoon and van der Garde only improved in the closing stages to a 1:45.936.

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