The last on-track action of the year has played out at Yas Marina Circuit, with Felipe Drugovich and Jak Crawford behind the wheel of the AMR24 in the post-season test. Get their thoughts from the day below.
The 2024 Formula One year is officially complete. A full day of testing has concluded in Abu Dhabi with Felipe participating in the Pirelli Tyre Test and Jak in the Young Driver Test.
Test round-up and reaction
Pirelli brought five slick tyre compounds from their range for the Tyre Test. These were: C2 - white walls with no brackets, C3 - white, C4 - yellow, C5 - red, and C6 - red with no brackets.
Pirelli did not set the run programme, meaning the team could lay out a plan for Felipe as it saw fit with one eye on 2025 car development.
Felipe ran the homologated versions of all Pirelli's 2025 tyres, developed over the year with the teams, with the exception of the C1 which is not suited to the Yas Marina Circuit. He had ten sets: one C2, three each of the C3 and C4, two C5 and one C6, at his disposal, with the latter being the new ultra-soft compound which extends the slick tyre range for 2025.
Jak had the C3, C4, and C5 tyres available for his Young Driver Test, as per the allocation for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last weekend.
Felipe's day saw him mix shorter and longer runs in the morning. The Brazilian then embarked on more long runs in the afternoon, cycling through all of the Pirelli compounds on offer.
For Jak, short stints were on the agenda in the morning as he familiarised himself with the AMR24 for the very first time.
He worked with the team through different car setups, and put in some longer runs in the afternoon session; he also drove on each of the three tyre compounds he had available to him.
Felipe drove a total distance of 771km, whilst Jak totalled 575km.
#34 | Felipe Drugovich | Test and Reserve Driver
"I'm really pleased with how today went. The biggest aim for the day was to understand the new tyres for next year, including the new ultra-soft compound Pirelli are introducing.
"I really enjoyed driving the AMR24 again. Being able to do so many laps with the current car is always a good thing. It was demanding physically but it's a good feeling. It was nice to get to really push this car for the first time. In my previous Free Practice One sessions I've not had much opportunity to push to the limit.
"Having more time in the car is good for me to help the team as well, because I can give feedback and also correlate with the feedback from Lance and Fernando, which will help with development work for 2025."
#35 | Jak Crawford | Young Driver
"It was a great experience driving the AMR24 for the first time today. Obviously, I've been driving an F2 car the past of couple weeks so it was nice to get into an F1 car again and feel the extra speed and downforce.
"I spent a long time today driving the car and I'm pleased that my body is feeling good afterwards, because it's such a physical experience driving an F1 car compared to what I'm used to.
"I think I drove well overall. I was pleased with how I handled all the different settings and instructions during the session. There's tons of switches you have to use and your engineers are telling you about the traffic around you whilst you're driving fast so you have to really be on it, but it was a cool experience and I think I handled it well.
"Overall I had a great day, I felt as though I got into a good rhythm so I'm pleased with how it's gone."
Chris Cronin | Chief Engineer
"It was a really productive day. We got all the tests that we wanted to get done, did all the mileage that we needed to, and got the tyre results that we were after. We're happy with how it's gone and it's good to end the season this way.
"We've picked up some good data on Pirelli's new ultra-soft tyre for 2025, though it's early days and we'll need to analyse that properly once we get back home.
"Both drivers did a good job. We know Felipe well from all the sim running he's done for us this year and Jak drove very well in his first outing in the AMR24, building himself up through the day.
"It was my first day as Chief Engineer, too, and it's certainly busy running two cars at the same time but being on top of both cars is a challenge that I've got to start getting used to.
"We had a number of people stepping up to new roles and gaining experience in new positions, which was one of the main priorities of the test, and everyone was looking after each other, helping each other out, and just making sure we didn't drop any balls or make any mistakes. A good day overall."
Next up
Time for a break. After the longest Formula One campaign in history, our team heads back to the AMR Technology Campus for the off-season. Thank you for your incredible support in 2024.
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