Leclerc tops timesheets in Abu Dhabi
Bottas off the pace at Yas Marina Circuit
Abu Dhabi: Charles Leclerc ended the final official Formula 1 testing of 2018 by topping the timesheets beating teammate Sebastian Vettel’s time.
Charles clocked the fastest time of 1:36.450 to finish ahead of Pierre Gasly, who completed his first running for Red Bull since 2017, replacing Daniel Ricciardo. Lance Stroll of Racing Point Force India F1 Team was 1.594s off pace while Mercedes Valtteri Bottas was the fourth fastest at 1.998s adrift.
Carlos Sainz Jr completed for McLaren in Abu Dhabi, finishing with 150 laps to take fifth place. Formula 2 veteran Artem Markelov continued his F1 development with Renault and was sixth-fastest. Robert Kubica tested for Williams in the morning session before George Russell took over in the afternoon.
Williams split running between Russell and Kubica once again in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, the latter completing the morning session. Russell was seventh fastest, while Kubica ended the day 10th overall, 1.4 seconds slower than his teammate.