Mercedes reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein set the pace as post-season Formula 1 testing in Abu Dhabi concluded on Wednesday, while McLaren-Honda’s development car suffered another difficult day.
The MP4-29H spent most of Tuesday in the garage thanks to electrical problems, and the pattern continued on Wednesday as the Woking team and its Japanese engine partner traced a new electrical problem on the car.
Stoffel Vandoorne did venture out late in the afternoon, but the McLaren soon came back to the pits on a truck, having completed an installation lap before hitting trouble on lap two.
Meanwhile DTM racer Wehrlein rose to the top of the times during the morning session, setting a benchmark lap time of 1m44.557s around the Yas Marina circuit.
The German went on to set the fastest time of the entire test in the closing stages to remain unbeaten at the top of the timesheet through the afternoon, working down to a 1m42.624s best.
GP2 race winner Raffaele Marciello made his F1 debut with Ferrari and recorded the second fastest time of the day, just under six tenths adrift of Wehrlein’s mark.
Red Bull prodigy Max Verstappen recovered from a costly suspension failure and crash on Tuesday to record the third fastest time on Wednesday, ahead of the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson, who clocked more laps than any other driver (112).
Formula Renault 3.5 race winner Will Stevens set the fifth fastest time for the beleaguered Caterham team, but ended his test early when his car stopped out on track with 40 minutes left to run with a suspected fuel leak.
Formula 3 racer Spike Goddard rounded out the top six on his F1 debut with Force India, after testing a prototype Info Wing in the morning.
Three-time grand prix winner Daniel Ricciardo took over driving duties for Red Bull from Carlos Sainz Jr and wound up seventh fastest.
His day came to a smoky end when a technical problem caused a fire on the RB10 out on-track in the afternoon.
New Sauber signing Felipe Nasr completed his final driving duties for Williams, recovering from a control electronics failure in the morning to rack up 82 laps and set the eighth fastest time, ahead of GP3 champion Alex Lynn and European Formula 3 champion Esteban Ocon, who split the day between them for Lotus.
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pascal Wehrlein | Mercedes | 1m42.624s | – | 96 |
| 2 | Raffaele Marciello | Ferrari | 1m43.208s | 0.584s | 91 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m43.763s | 1.139s | 78 |
| 4 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m44.551s | 1.927s | 112 |
| 5 | Will Stevens | Caterham/Renault | 1m44.888s | 2.264s | 76 |
| 6 | Richard Goddard | Force India/Mercedes | 1m44.944s | 2.320s | 89 |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m45.151s | 2.527s | 88 |
| 8 | Luiz Felipe Nasr | Williams/Mercedes | 1m45.937s | 3.313s | 83 |
| 9 | Alex Lynn | Lotus/Renault | 1m46.168s | 3.544s | 52 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Lotus/Renault | 1m47.013s | 4.389s | 34 |
| 11 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Honda | – | – | 2 |
