Red Bull: Jean-Eric Vergne ends the Abu Dhabi tests in command
Jean-Eric Vergne completed the third day of testing for young drivers in Abu Dhabi at the top of the standings, setting the best time for Red Bull.
The Frenchman's fastest time this morning was just over four tenths of Sebastian Vettel's pole time from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Mercedes driver Sam Bird in second almost two seconds behind.
Bird spent much of the day evaluating Mercedes exhausts for 2012, and was able to set a few faster laps in the afternoon. The Mercedes driver completed 102 laps in total.
Ferrari tester Jules Bianchi placed fourth ahead of Oliver Turvey, who returned to duty for McLaren. Max Chilton with Force India, finished fifth.
Chilton's best time only came after a red flag caused by Esteban Gutierrez. The Mexican went out in his Sauber and suffered damage to the wheel rim.
Mirko Bortolotti, who took over the leadership of Williams from Valtteri Bottas, finished seventh, four tenths faster than Toro Rosso driver Kevin Ceccon.
Alessandro Rossi, Team Lotus, is ninth, 5.366s from the top. The American struggled with a small space in the cockpit due to his height, which made it difficult to complete a long run, but he still managed to complete 74 laps during the day.
The teams used a mix of 2011 and 2012 Pirelli tyres, and carried out runs with different fuel loads and different specifications on the cars.
Below is the time ranking of the last day of testing:
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Jean-Eric Vergne Red Bull-Renault 1m38.917s 2. Sam Bird Mercedes GP 1m40.897s 3. Jules Bianchi Ferrari 1m41.347s 4. Olivier Turvey McLaren-Mercedes 1m41.513s 5. Max Chilton Force India -Mercedes 1m41.575s 6. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m42.049s 7. Mirko Bortolotti Williams-Cosworth 1m43.277s 8. Kevin Ceccon Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m43.686s 9. Alexander Rossi Lotus-Renault 1m44.283s 10. Jan Charouz Renault 1m44.470s 11. Stefano Coletti Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m44.545s 12. Nathanael Berthon HRT-Cosworth 1m45.839s 13. Robert Wickens Virgin-Cosworth 1m45.934s 14. Charles Pic Virgin-Cosworth 1m46.348s
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