Russell fastest, Leclerc crashes out of testing
Charles Leclerc
The final day of the post-season tyre test ended with George Russell quickest for Mercedes and Charles Leclerc crashing into the barriers for Ferrari.
Leclerc was forced to cut short his afternoon running at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi when his SF90 collided with the barrier at Turn 14.
Ich hab diese Bilder jetzt bei LAT Images gesehen, frag mich was passiert ist… pic.twitter.com/Ishhd28ed0
— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) December 4, 2019
Leclerc walked away from the incident unscathed but the red flags came out so his Ferrari could be loaded onto a recovery truck back to the garage.
The 22-year-old had completed 103 laps prior to the accident with Ferrari already gathering enough data on the 2019 and 2020 Pirelli tyre compounds.
Reste 15 minutes avant la fin de la deuxième et dernière journée d'essais à Yas Marina. Peu de machines ont commencé à tourner sur la piste après que le drapeau rouge a été brandi pour l'accident de Charles Leclerc pic.twitter.com/mefCNLSp7a
— MAXIME🔴KYLIAN (@MaxKylCPB) December 4, 2019
Leclerc finished in P2, with a best time of 1:37.401 which was a couple of tenths slower than what Russell managed for Mercedes.
Racing Point’s Lance Stroll was the final driver to drop into the 1:37 benchmark, just, with a 1:37.999 set during a day which saw him complete 132 laps to finish P3.
Pierre Gasly, in P4 racked up the most laps of anyone with 146 to his name by the time the checkered flag waved in Abu Dhabi.
Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon in the Renault, Alex Albon, Haas’ Pietro Fittipaldi, Antonio Giovinazzi and Nicholas Latifi completed the top 10 respectively.
Bringing up the rear was Williams’ Roy Nissany, who added another 38 laps to the bank during his morning session in the FW42.
That officially draws the curtain on the 2019 season, with teams now set to vote on whether to use the 2020 tyres or stick with what they already had available to them this campaign.
The next on-track action will be on February 19 2020 with the traditional pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.
Abu Dhabi post-season test, day two timesheet:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:37.204 145 laps C5 2020
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:37.401 103 laps C5 2019
3 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1:37.999 132 laps C5 2020
4 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:38.166 146 laps C5 2020
5 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1:38.729 112 laps C5 2020
6 Esteban Ocon Renault 1:38.950 128 laps C4 2019
7 Alex Albon Red Bull Racing 1:39.181 139 laps C4 2019
8 Pietro Fittipaldi Haas 1:39.682 135 laps C5 2019
9 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1:39.811 115 laps C5 2020
10 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:40.188 107 laps C4 2020
11 Roy Nissany Williams 1:43.892 38 laps C4 2020
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