Haas F1: Abu Dhabi Test Recap

Haas F1 Team attended the post-season young driver test at Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi on Tuesday with Mick Schumacher behind the wheel of the VF-20. Having had his first outing with the American squad in FP1 during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Schumacher – who will race full-time for Haas F1 Team in 2021, was one of 15 drivers participating in the test to bring to a close track activities for the year.

The 21-year-old German recorded 125 laps around the 5.554-kilometer (3.451-mile), 21-turn circuit.

Morning running totaled 53-laps utilizing the Pirelli C4 tire throughout as Schumacher built on the 23-laps he accumulated in FP1 last Friday. Working on the balance of the VF-20, with a mixture of low and high fuel runs, Schumacher’s fastest lap in the morning was a 1:40.106. The afternoon plan focused on gaining additional mileage with longer runs on the C4 before a switch to the softer C5 compound for comparison runs. Schumacher added another 72 laps to his tally with a fastest lap of 1:39.947.

Fernando Alonso of Renault ended the day top of the timesheets courtesy of a 1:36.333 lap.

Mick Schumacher / Driver #50:

“I feel pretty good, obviously I’m very happy I managed to do so many laps – it’s not always a given in testing. We focused on a good amount of laps, and a valuable amount of laps, which was very positive. The key point from today was just to understand the tires a little more – for that, the long runs were very good. I think we achieved that, and I now have a pretty good knowledge of what I need to do although the tires might be a bit different next year. I feel very comfortable, I know the team’s happy, so that’s good. I really was so happy to be in the car and it was so much fun to drive. I’m really looking forward to next year.”

Ayao Komatsu / Director of Engineering

“So today was obviously the first full day of Mick (Schumacher) being in the car. We really focused on him understanding the car, and then adjusting the car balance to suit and to get the best out of Mick. We really didn’t focus on one lap performance or anything like that, we simply wanted to get him to understand various things like different fuel loads. We also focused on tire management on high fuel runs. It was really good for Mick to experience long runs, both at high track temperature and towards the end of the day when track temperature was then at its coolest. We ran both C4 and C5 tires on long runs. He was making lots of adjustments by himself and using the tools available to him.

“So, today was a very good day. He completed 125 laps – his fitness was absolutely no problem. He completely understood the program in terms of what we wanted to achieve today. He also did 11 starts from the F2 pitlane, his procedures improved as the day continued – to the point he was at a pretty good level. All-in-all we’re very happy. His attitude was excellent, as was his understanding of the program, his understanding of the car and working with the engineers to improve his tire management – it was excellent. We’re very happy.”