Piastri and Gasly to make debuts for new teams in Abu Dhabi test | 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix

McLaren and Alpine have reached agreements to ensure their new drivers for next season can have their first runs with them before the year is over. Oscar Piastri and Pierre Gasly will drive for McLaren and Alpine respectively in the post-season test at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. The two teams were involved in a dispute over Piastri’s services which was resolved in McLaren’s favour earlier this year. Team principal Andreas Seidl confirmed they have now reached terms under which Piastri will join the team between the season finale and end-of-year test. He has already conducted a run in one of the team’s old cars at Paul Ricard in France. “We reached a settlement agreement with all parties involved which enabled us to put Oscar in an old car last week in Paul Ricard and do a private test,” said Seidl. “This will enable us as well to then officially start working with Oscar on Monday after the last race in Abu Dhabi, which enables us then as well to put him in the car, in the current car, at the young driver test in Abu Dhabi, which is something we are very much looking forward to, which is great for us and for Oscar.” Seidl said it is too early to draw any conclusions about Piastri’s potential based on his first run for the team. “Running an old car alone on a track there’s not too much to read into it,” he said. “In the end, it was a good start from Oscar together with us and that’s pretty much it for the moment.” Alpine originally announced Piastri as its replacement for Fernando Alonso next year, but was stunned to discover its reserve driver had signed to race for McLaren. They have instead hired Pierre Gasly from AlphaTauri, who will drive for them in ther Yas Marina test. “The season’s nearly at the end and it was time to come to an agreement and we did and we’re happy that Oscar can start his McLaren career after the last race in Abu Dhabi and do the test,” said Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer. “We will be doing the same with Pierre, we will be putting Pierre in the car in Abu Dhabi and we’ll get working on our driver pairing, get his feedback and get his initial thoughts on our car this year and start to understand the things he likes and dislikes and hopefully be able to make some changes on next year’s car too with Pierre’s input in mind.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix Browse all 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

Ferrari lead the way in busy post-season Abu Dhabi test

The 2022 Formula 1 cars have been run together for the final time as Ferrari rounded out the year with a one-two-three on a busy day of testing in Abu Dhabi. Teams could run two cars throughout Tuesday at the Yas Marina Circuit, with one of them used for testing 2023 tyre compounds and the other designated to a rookie driver that could use both this and next year’s tyres. That opened up the possibility for a number of drivers to get their first outings for new teams, as the likes of Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly, Oscar Piastri, Nyck de Vries and Nico Hulkenberg were all seen in their new cars for the first time. GALLERY: Check out Alonso, Gasly, Piastri and more as they debut for their new teams in Abu Dhabi test But it was a pair of familiar faces who topped the times at the end of the nine-hour day, with Carlos Sainz on a 1m 25.245s quickest for Ferrari ahead of his team mate Charles Leclerc, the two separated by just over 0.1s. Sainz had taken over from Leclerc for the afternoon while Robert Shwartzman carried out the rookie driver duties, and a late lap from the test driver saw him end up third, only 0.017s slower than Leclerc’s best effort. Nyck de Vries was the busiest driver as he completed 152 laps for his new team AlphaTauri Gasly marked his first day in the Alpine with the fourth quickest time, ending up just over 0.4s shy of Sainz with a flying lap in the final 10 minutes of running as the floodlights took hold after sunset. World champion Max Verstappen was fifth after taking over from Sergio Perez at lunchtime and completing 76 laps, ahead of the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant. Williams were one of three teams able to run their full 2023 driver line-up due to Sargeant being a rookie, something McLaren and AlphaTauri were also able to do. ‘I feel honoured’ – Alonso overjoyed with first drive for ‘iconic brand’ Aston Martin at Abu Dhabi test De Vries was seventh overall and the busiest driver of the day as he amassed an impressive 152 laps, spinning once in the morning but ending up ahead of Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson for Red Bull – who like De Vries also spun at Turn 5 – and Jack Doohan for Alpine. Former Alpine driver Alonso’s race on Sunday came to a premature end when he was forced to retire with a suspected water leak, so it was perhaps no surprise he was eager to be first out on track and get as much running as possible with new team Aston Martin during Tuesday’s test. Piastri completed over 100 laps with McLaren despite causing a red flag after stopping on track Alonso was also first on track after the opening red flag of the day, and drove into the afternoon before handing over to new team mate Lance Stroll, completing 97 laps that came with some pain due to his seat, but which provided him with a positive first impression of Aston’s car. READ MORE: 'It was definitely very special' – Gasly 'emotional' after driving Alpine for first time at Abu Dhabi test Another driver to leave Alpine this year – Piastri – ended up 14th overall on his public debut for McLaren and comfortably exceeded 100 laps despite causing the first red flag of the day when he stopped at Turn 7. That was one of two interruptions, the other for debris – although that red flag that was so short-lived that Hulkenberg entered the pit lane and was able to roll straight through and rejoin the track as the session went green again. It was important for Hulkenberg to make up for some lost time on his Haas debut, not only due to having had three years out of full-time competition but also because he lost two hours of running in the morning after stopping in the middle sector with a technical issue. The incident didn’t require a red flag, but did see the German miss a chunk of track time before going on to log 110 laps and finish 19th quickest, just over 0.1s and two positions ahead of Pietro Fittipaldi. via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

Driver line-up set for final F1 test of 2022 season | 2022 F1 season

Formula 1’s final day of on-track running will take place at Yas Marina tomorrow where teams will evaluate next year’s tyres and give another test opportunity to junior drivers. All 10 teams will participate in the day of running at the track which held the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last weekend. Each will run two cars, one of which will be run by an inexperienced driver who has competed in no more than two grands prix. Several teams will use the opportunity to give their new drivers a run in their cars. Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly have been given permission to drive for Aston Martin and Alpine respectively after leaving their previous teams. The same goes for former Alpine reserve driver Oscar Piastri, who will make his F1 debut with McLaren next year, and Nyck de Vries, who is leaving behind his Mercedes reserve role to race for AlphaTauri next year. Nico Hulkenberg will have his first run for Haas as he prepares to return to a full-time F1 seat for the first time since 2019. Williams will also have 2023 debutant Logan Sargeant in one of their cars. Mercedes’ junior Frederik Vesti will have his first run in an F1 car tomorrow, while other teams will turn to drivers who have already appeared for them in practice sessions this year. Lewis Hamilton is expected to drive the other Mercedes, though following his retirement from Sunday’s race he joked about “pulling a sickie” as he has enjoyed driving this year’s W13 so little. World champion Max Verstappen is also expected to run for Red Bull as teams get to grips with Pirelli’s new rubber for 2023. Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free “It’s important to get the first read and make sure that we already have a basic understanding before we go into next season,” said Vertappen. “Every track is different, so it’s of course always nice to run these tyres but throughout the season you will always learn a lot about them.” One key change to next year’s tyres is the addition of a new compound, as Pirelli seeks to improve its range of hard tyre options. The hardest tyre compounds used this year, the C1, will be re-labelled the C0, and a new C1 is being introduced. This will increase the total number of slick tyre compounds available for any race to six, designated C0 (hardest) to C5 (softest). F1 post-season test driver line-up Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2022 F1 season Browse all 2022 F1 season articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/