Ricciardo fastest in first young drivers test

2011 F1 testing

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Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, Abu Dhabi, 2010

Daniel Ricciardo was the fastest driver on the first day of the young drivers test sessions at Abu Dhabi.

The Australian set a time of 1’39.616 in the world championship-winning Red Bull RB6 around the Yas Marina circut.

That put him over a second faster than Oliver Turvey, driving for McLaren.

Portuguese teenager Antonio Felix da Costa was third quickest for Force India, ahead of Sauber’s new test driver Esteban Gutierrez.

Dean Stoneman was fifth for Williams having run with a large aerodynamic testing device on his car early in the session.

Force India and Virgin both ran two drivers during the day, with Paul di Resta and Rio Haryanto driving the car in the morning. The Indonesian driver’s running was cut short by a technical problem on the VR-01.

Fastest times

Car Driver Car Best lap Gap On lap Laps
1 33 Daniel Ricciardo 1’39.616 68 83
2 31 Oliver Turvey 1’40.725 1.109 84 85
3 57 Antonio Felix da Costa 1’41.381 1.765 76 77
4 41 Esteban Gutierrez 1’41.432 1.816 84 88
5 35 Dean Stoneman 1’41.522 1.906 68 70
6 36 Mikhail Aleshin 1’42.073 2.457 55 58
7 38 Jean Eric Vergne 1’42.489 2.873 60 93
8 37 Paul di Resta 1’42.736 3.120 27 28
9 32 Sam Bird 1’42.985 3.369 60 67
10 62 Jerome d’Ambrosio 1’43.518 3.902 34 36
11 40 Pastor Maldonado 1’43.750 4.134 107 108
12 34 Jules Bianchi 1’43.894 4.278 15 59
13 39 Rodolfo Gonzalez 1’44.924 5.308 72 83
14 42 Rio Haryanto 1’49.439 9.823 20 21

Speed trap

Driver Car Fastest Speed (kph)
Oliver Turvey McLaren 317.5
Pastor Maldonado HRT 315.7
Antonio Felix da Costa Force India 315.7
Dean Stoneman Williams 312.9
Sam Bird Mercedes 312
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 312
Rodolfo Gonzalez Lotus 311.1
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 310.2
Jules Bianchi Ferrari 309.3
Paul di Resta Force India 309.3
Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 309.3
Jerome d’Ambrosio Virgin 308.4
Mikhail Aleshin Renault 307.5
Rio Haryanto Virgin 299.8

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    Keith Collantine
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    59 comments on “Ricciardo fastest in first young drivers test”

    1. a_sh
      16th November 2010, 13:39

      Maldonado’s best time today – 1:43.940 , and it’s 1.1 second faster than Senna’s qualification time (1:45.085). Fantastic driving! Bad news for Senna and Klien, great news for Williams.

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        infy (@infy)
        16th November 2010, 13:41

        The track is more rubbered in.

        1. a_sh
          16th November 2010, 13:50

          …And also it’s the first time for Maldonado in HRT – no previous testing.

          Another point is, HRT was known for its problems with reliability. Yet Maldonado made 108 laps (about 2 full races) without technical problems.

          1. DH4ever
            16th November 2010, 14:19

            Does anybody know how much fuel they had?

        2. Tom Watson
          16th November 2010, 14:53

          Chandhok on twitter thinks that the track will be about 1.1-1.4 seconds quicker today

    2. earlrue
      16th November 2010, 13:40

      Ricciardo being 0.3” faster than Webber in Q3 is bloody quick. That would have been P3.

      Costa is surprisingly fast too. With a time good for P15 and beating Liuzzi (Q2, P16) by 0.26”.

      Turvey would have qualifyed P14 last Saturday, not close to Lewis’ or Jenson’s times. But who knows what they are running and testing.

      1. BBT
        16th November 2010, 14:24

        It is very quick but the track could easily be a second quicker today than Saturday and probably is.

      2. mfDB
        16th November 2010, 14:56

        Are these cars in race condition though? Just curious if this is really a fair comparison or if since they are testing they are allowed certain conditions that they wouldn’t be in a race….

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        Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
        17th November 2010, 3:59

        Ricciardo being 0.3” faster than Webber in Q3 is bloody quick. That would have been P3.

        But there were not laps driven in anger. There was none of the pressure normally associated with a Grand Prix weekend.

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          damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
          17th November 2010, 11:28

          I still think this Ricciardo guy is something special. He is genuinely quicker than any of the other aspiring F1 drivers, even without the RB6. I hope when Webber retires, Red Bull pick Ricciardo up as his replacement. Him and Vettel would be a battle I’d like to see!

    3. a_sh
      16th November 2010, 13:43

      Oops, for Maldonado it’s even better: 1:43.750 (used old timing).

    4. McLarenFanJamm
      16th November 2010, 13:46

      shock horror, a red bull is fastest

    5. Ben
      16th November 2010, 13:49

      Thats some impressive work by Ricciardo. Right there amongst the full-time driver’s times while the others are some way off.

      Bianchi, not so impressive.

    6. manB
      16th November 2010, 13:51

      Ricciardo way too fast
      Evevn I dont believe Costa’s time, he really did a good job. Now I dont think Liuzzi will fit in Force India.
      Maldonado looks promising as well.

    7. luigismen
      16th November 2010, 13:58

      Good time by Maldonado, maybe people will realize that replacing Nico with Maldonado isn’t that bad of a choice.
      but still, there’s more testing days left to make a real judgment

      1. Chris P
        16th November 2010, 21:28

        Ill make my real judgement after a few races, not test sessions where anything can be done to the cars to affect the lap time.

    8. Dextrous
      16th November 2010, 13:59

      its great to see young guns behind an F1 car it just brings out the best in the car…….

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      wasiF1 (@wasif1)
      16th November 2010, 14:15

      A interesting thing, HRT in front of Ferrari.The question that I am asking is that whether they will be able to do 2011 aero testing in their car or this is just a test to give some mileage to the young drivers.

      1. a_sh
        16th November 2010, 14:30

        As a matter of fact – some teams did testing. Here’s the photo of Williams with some probes:

        And AFAIK Renault was without F-duct (as it will be banned next year)

      2. a_sh
        16th November 2010, 14:34

        Sorry, wrong tag…

        AFAIK Renault was without F-duct (as it will be banned next year)

        As a matter of fact – some teams did testing. Here’s the photo of Williams with some probes:

        Williams with probes

        1. Adrian
          16th November 2010, 15:47

          That link won’t work for me…

        2. Profile Photo

          sato113 (@sato113)
          16th November 2010, 17:09

          here’s the full gallery
          http://www.f1news.ru/gallery/v/2010/test/1611/

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      Fixy (@)
      16th November 2010, 14:15

      Ricciardo is talented but had the best car.
      Bianchi – How can he be third-last? I hope he was running heavy or tested something, because it’s not an impressive time.

      1. KONL
        16th November 2010, 14:25

        He had the best car, but not only was he the fastest, he was faster than Webber, as someone pointed out.

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          infy (@infy)
          16th November 2010, 14:30

          The track also has a whole 2 hour long race worth of rubber. I honestly dont think these times are quick because of the drivers. Something else (like the track conditions) is influencing it.

          1. macahan
            16th November 2010, 15:42

            Absolutely track conditions play a big role here. So much more rubber then during qualification. GP2 support race and a full F1 race added a lot of rubber. Bust still some pretty impressive lap times from some of the guys.

            I would been mighty disappointed if Riccardo had not been fastest of them all consider he drove the car that was fastest in qualification plus a very skilled driver as well it’s for naught he is the reserve driver for RedBull.
            Some of the drivers didn’t impress that much on their times but must say Maldonado did a superb job that much quicker then the regular drivers. BUT track should be as pointed out faster then when the drivers did qualification before the race. As much as 1-1.5sec according to some so Maldonado seem to gotten the best out of the car perfectly in line with what could potentially been expected and would run Senna and Klein for their money.

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              US_Peter (@us_peter)
              16th November 2010, 21:10

              He’s likely familiar with the car’s handling as well having done plenty of time in the Red Bull simulator, which most other drivers here have not.

      2. a_sh
        16th November 2010, 14:48

        Ferrari made some tests indeed:

        F10

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          Fixy (@)
          16th November 2010, 16:00

          Sorry, I don’t see any new parts. The thing on top of the on board camera is to measure speed and shouldn’t slow the car down.

    11. xabregas
      16th November 2010, 14:22

      Impressive time for Felix da Costa, his best time is better than Luizzi´s qualifying lap and only 0,4 off Sutil´s time.

    12. BBT
      16th November 2010, 14:27

      People, people, the track is obviously much quicker than Saturday, you can only compare between drivers on the day… having said that, even so so impressive times.

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        Scribe (@scribe)
        16th November 2010, 16:09

        There alright but, this is after a Porche Race, two GP2 races and a qualifiying session for the feature race, 45minutes of F1 qualifying and a full F1 race with only two retirements, 6 days to set the cars up to the track perfectly and TONS of other info.

        It’s not much more than you’d expect from competant single seater drivers, get the F1 guys in and the times could be incredible, lap records would be smashed.

    13. BBT
      16th November 2010, 14:28

      over 100 laps of more rubber laid down

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        Scribe (@scribe)
        16th November 2010, 16:10

        Yeah, 14 drivers did from 30 to 90 laps today. The track will be even faster tommorow.

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        sato113 (@sato113)
        16th November 2010, 17:10

        and its in the middle of the day. warmer track temperature.

        1. Stubie
          16th November 2010, 18:52

          Midday track temps. Yes, I think this has a lot to do with it as well.

          Nonetheless, some impressive times from them. Ricciardo besting Webber’s time is impressive, I don’t care how you qualify it with conditions improving… I hope some of these guys get seats that are independent of the wallets behind them.

    14. f1geek
      16th November 2010, 14:49

      Pirelli or bridgestone?

      1. Tomster
        16th November 2010, 15:09

        They were all on Bridgestone tires.

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          Scribe (@scribe)
          16th November 2010, 16:11

          last hurrah. It’ll be truly interesting to see what times the F1 drivers do on the Bridgestones. Vettle fastest shouldn’t wonder, still by that time the track will be actually made of rubber, an rubber only.

          1. DeadManWoking
            16th November 2010, 17:03

            The young drivers are on Bridgestones today and Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday the Teams will all test the Pirellis with either their Race or Test Drivers. The Bridgestones will not be used after tomorrow.

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              Scribe (@scribe)
              16th November 2010, 17:38

              woops, I ment the Pirellis. My whole posts looses it’s point like it is now. Still, it’ll be interesting to see what the Pirelli times are but, of course, it’ll be a very benign track by that point.

            2. DeadManWoking
              16th November 2010, 17:49

              Yeah, with so much more rubber on the track you can’t really make a direct comparison. I imagine on Thursday we will see a lot of long high fuel runs to check the wear on the various types of Pirellis, we may not get some really hot laps till later on Friday.

    15. Profile Photo

      karan01 (@karan01)
      16th November 2010, 15:04

      What is the purpose of a young drivers test?

      1. xabregas
        16th November 2010, 16:31

        Give then seat driving time, it´s the only way they have to test F1 cars.

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      sato113 (@sato113)
      16th November 2010, 17:13

      di resta is SLOWER than da costa in the same car…
      di resta had had way more practice. how can this be?

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        sato113 (@sato113)
        16th November 2010, 17:13

        by 1.5 secs too!

        1. DeadManWoking
          16th November 2010, 17:29

          From Autosport:

          Ricciardo completed 46 laps during the first half-day of running and his lap was some 1.923s faster than that of Force India tester Paul di Resta, who was concentrating on setting benchmark times for team newcomer Antonio Felix da Costa on a heavier fuel load

          .

          http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88317

    17. the edge
      16th November 2010, 18:18

      just goes to show how useless vettel is and how good the RB6 is

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        Patrickl (@patrickl)
        16th November 2010, 21:36

        Well, Vettel is better than Webber at least.

      2. Robert
        17th November 2010, 0:30

        Calling a World Champ useless haha.. nicely done..

    18. f1geek
      16th November 2010, 18:25

      I got a question : do the f1 drivers get the full tanks for the race before qualifying? so they do with quali with full tank ? or They put the fuel after the qualifying?

      1. DeadManWoking
        16th November 2010, 19:20

        Previously those in Q3 had to qualify with the amount of fuel they would start the race with but with no refueling this year they can qualify with as little fuel as possible though they must have enough in the tank at the end for the FIA to take a sample for testing. They fill the tanks just before the race.

    19. Miguel Machado
      16th November 2010, 18:53

      Portuguese young driver Antonio Felix da Costa, did a good work, but I in my opinion, Alvaro Parent deserve the opportunity to seat again in a F1 car, but when you have to pay 200000€ to test, talent isn’t enough to drive a F1 car…

    20. Dane
      16th November 2010, 21:18

      Ricciardo has a great future with RBR, pity they will most likely make him a #2 driver.

      1. Robert
        17th November 2010, 0:33

        I agree.. they need to replace Mark Webber with another Australian! And they will only make him #2 in the beginning since he’s new. He’ll have every chance to prove himself.. Hamilton was Number 2 first season to Alonso and look what happened ;)

        I really wanna see more of this guy..

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          Stretch (@stretch)
          17th November 2010, 5:17

          Well Horner did say the team in the future is going to be built around Vettel (if not currently). Hopefully he replaces Webber when he retires so I don’t have to barrack for another nationality.

    21. Sammy
      16th November 2010, 22:58

      Wait, these guys have to pay to test??

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        sato113 (@sato113)
        17th November 2010, 17:35

        nope. they’re selected by the teams.

    22. Carl
      16th November 2010, 23:25

      does anyone know if they were running with engines from the 2010 season or are they fresh testing engines?

      also were any of the teams running 2011 parts?

    Comments are closed.