Formula 1 News: Crawford and Antonelli top Abu Dhabi post-season test

The long 2025 Formula 1 season officially concluded today with American Jak Crawford (pictured) turning the fastest lap for Aston Martin.

The 2025 season, having started with pre-season testing in Bahrain back on February 26, and ending with a final day of testing on the Yas Marina circuit after the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This most recent test involved not only the regular race drivers, running the 2026 tires on adapted mule cars, but also 10 young drivers – who had the chance to drive the existing 2025 cars.

From 09:00 local time, the cars took to the track, after the presentation in the paddock of Pirelli’s new tire graphics that will feature on the sidewalls during the coming seasons.

The majority of the mule cars, equipped with the current DRS system rather than the new active aerodynamics for next year, ran with a speed limit fixed at 300kph to reduce downforce and collect data that will be more representative of 2026. Only mule cars already equipped with next year’s straight line mode at the front were allowed to run without speed limits, while respecting the SLM activation zones put in place by the FIA along the track.

For the mule car test, the teams had at their disposal one set of C2 tires and three sets each of C3, C4, and C5 – as well as a set of intermediates. There were no prescribed run plans, with each team free to use the tires however they chose. The best time of the day was set by Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) with a time of 1m25.170. Second was McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in 1m26.099 while Lewis Hamilton was third for Ferrari in 1m26.138, all on the C5.

The young drivers (officially defined as drivers who have taken part in no more than two grands prix) instead got to drive the 2025 cars from the season that has just finished. They had at their disposal two sets of C3 and C5, four sets of C4, and two sets each of Intermediate and Full wet. The fastest time of the day was set by Jak Crawford (Aston Martin) with a time of 1m23.766 on the C5.

Pirelli Motorsport Director Mario Isola said: “This test day was an excellent opportunity for all the teams to try out the definitive 2026 tires, with the compounds set to be formally confirmed on Monday. During the development tests organized by Pirelli throughout this season, the teams individually ran different versions of the prototypes, in various phases of development—from just the new construction to a range of options for the same compound. Today was the first time that they had the entire range at their disposal on track, which gave them the chance to more fully understand the characteristics of the new tires.

By using the same mule cars as during the development tests, with the same speed limits, teams were easily able to compare the data captured in Yas Marina with that from the individual test days over the last few months. For our engineers, this test was fundamental to confirm the performance gaps between the compounds and the degradation levels, which has been the focus of our work throughout the year. Analyzing the new tires, which have a smaller footprint against the surface, has also allowed us to check their exposure to graining and overheating—two effects that can potentially increase due to the smaller surface area. Now we have to wait until the end of January to see these latest tires in action at the Barcelona test on the new generation of cars.”

During the nine hours of running that concluded at 18:00 local time, a total of 2,648 laps were covered by all 20 cars, equaling 13,984 kilometers. The drivers who racked up the most laps were Kimi Antonelli (157 laps), Frederik Vesti (145 laps) e Pierre Gasly (144 laps).

The young drivers taking part in today’s test were: Pato O’Ward (McLaren), Frederik Vesti (Mercedes), Ayumu Iwasa (Red Bull), Dino Beganovic (Ferrari), Luke Browning (Williams), Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls), Jak Crawford (Aston Martin), Ryo Hirakawa (Haas F1 Team), Paul Aron (Kick Sauber) and Kush Maini (Alpine).

The regular race drivers were: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Isack Hadjar (Red Bull), Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon (Williams), Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), Stoffel Vandoorne (Aston Martin), Ollie Berman and Esteban Ocon (Haas F1 Team), Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber), as well as Pierre Gasly (Alpine).

2025 F1 Abu Dhabi Post-Season Test Results

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