Sean Gelael, Roy Nissany and Pietro Fittipaldi will join the regular Formula 1 drivers for the final test of 2019 tomorrow.
Formula 2 driver Gelael will return to action for Toro Rosso on the first day of the test before the team’s regular race drivers take over.Williams have already announced they will give Roy Nissany his first run in an F1 car during the test. Haas simulator driver Pietro Fittipaldi will also get a chance to drive the VF-19 at Yas Marina.
Nissany will take over from George Russell halfway through the first day of the test. Russell will then spend the second day with Mercedes, as Lewis Hamilton is not participating in the test.
Alexander Albon has said he will drive on Wednesday for Red Bull. Max Verstappen is expected to drive for them on Tuesday.
2020 Abu Dhabi test driver line-up
Team | Tuesday 3rd December | Wednesday 4th December |
---|---|---|
Mercedes | Valtteri Bottas | George Russell |
Ferrari | Sebastian Vettel | Charles Leclerc |
Red Bull | TBC | Alexander Albon |
Renault | Esteban Ocon | Esteban Ocon |
Haas | Romain Grosjean / Pietro Fittipaldi* | |
McLaren | Lando Norris | Carlos Sainz Jnr |
Racing Point | Sergio Perez | Lance Stroll |
Alfa Romeo | Kimi Raikkonen | Antonio Giovinazzi |
Toro Rosso | Sean Gelael (am) / Daniil Kvyat (pm) | Pierre Gasly |
Williams | George Russell (am) / Roy Nissany (pm) | Roy Nissany (am) / Nicholas Latifi (pm) |
*Running order TBC
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Jere (@jerejj)
2nd December 2019, 15:03
I didn’t expect this many current race-drivers to take part in this two-day test, and the most surprising one of them is Seb. I fully expected him not to stay longer in Abu Dhabi for this purpose, given his recent family-addition. I expected him to leave as early as possible to get back to his family ASAP, so surprising.
gardenfella (@gardenfella72)
2nd December 2019, 15:16
Contractual obligation, perhaps?
DonSmee (@david-beau)
2nd December 2019, 17:15
Vettel will need all the practice he can from now if he wants a good family life for next year. Getting thrashed at work cant be good for the family!
Gavin Campbell
2nd December 2019, 15:25
Obviously Roy Nissany is bringing some budget for the test but it still seems strange to me that Williams wouldn’t take the oppurtunity to get Latifi in the car more over these two days. This test isn’t that important as all new cars will take to the track next time out (although the rules are stable so I wouldn’t be surprised if some teams try out some different ideas).
George Russell is probably there to set a baseline, check the setup and maybe run some different parts at the start. But to my mind it would surely make more sense to let Latifi try different setups, long runs on Pirelli F1 rubber etc. as there is only 6 days of pre-season testing next year. It could be a struggle with a Rookie driver to work on setups and evaluate performance parts with so few days available.
Patrick (@paeschli)
3rd December 2019, 7:41
It’s not the first time we see questionable decisions from Williams in the past few years.
DAllein (@)
2nd December 2019, 16:23
Wouldn’t it be cool, if they simulated the whole race again?)
They all would get the chance to win without Lewis on track :D
DAllein (@)
2nd December 2019, 16:25
I didn’t want to offend anyone.
Just trying to figure out how to liven up 102 days before Australia 2020)