Final running of the season brings current era of F1 to a close
- Regular race driver Kimi Antonelli along with Reserve Driver Fred Vesti were on track in Abu Dhabi today.
- Kimi was behind the wheel of the team’s ‘mule car’ for the Pirelli Tyre Test aimed at evaluating 2026 tyre compounds along with simulating some of the new elements of 2026 F1 including active aerodynamics.
- Fred meanwhile was driving an unmodified W16 on the 2025 tyre compounds in the Young Driver Test.
- Kimi completed 156 laps of running with Fred fitting in 145 laps of the 5.281km Yas Marina Circuit.
- The test saw the final competitive running of the current turbo-hybrid era Power Units and the ground effect rules cars before the next generation of F1 beckons in 2026.
Kimi Antonelli
I am happy with our day’s work here in Abu Dhabi. It all went very smoothly, and we were able to complete nearly 160 laps of running. That is valuable data that we have gathered about the 2026 tyres that we will evaluate and utilise ahead of next season.
I want to say a massive thank you to the whole team, both here trackside and those colleagues at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth too, for all their hard work. Even though we’ve just finished this year, and my own rookie season, I can’t wait to get started on what is ahead. We’ve got a big few months ahead of us with the exciting challenge that next year presents and it’s one all of us are looking forward to.
Fred Vesti
That is the Young Driver Test complete and, at 145 laps, the most running I’ve ever done in an F1 car in one day! We worked through eight sets of tyres and completed our whole programme. It’s been a positive day with lots of good work accomplished by the team. I was in the simulator last week, got to drive the car today, and will be in the simulator next week so that is useful for my own learning but also the wider work we are doing in the virtual world.
We now move on to 2026 which will be such an exciting year for everyone. I have been working hard with colleagues at Brackley on the development of next season’s car and I am excited for the weeks and months ahead as our preparations continue apace for the next generation of F1.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
We’ve had a very useful day of running with both cars here in Abu Dhabi. Kimi experienced the 2026 Pirelli tyres and completed 156 laps. We were able to have a first look at the final compounds and casings for next year and completed several tests to understand how they respond to setup changes. He was also running a lower downforce level to simulate next year’s car too which will be useful data for us to evaluate.
Fred meanwhile was driving the 2025 tyres and completed 145 laps starting with the race setup, then exploring some options to solve the issues we faced in the race weekend. That provided us with some interesting and helpful results whilst this running also gives Fred some very useful real-life experience of the car he has spent so much of the year driving in the simulator. We’ve got nearly 1600km of data to go through and analyse now. This will all be important parts of our preparation for 2026 and the development of the next year’s car.
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