The final piece of on-track action to see out the 2024 Formula 1 season took place at the Yas Marina circuit, as teams took part in the post-season test.
Charles Leclerc headed the timesheets from former teammate Carlos Sainz, who made his debut with Williams during the test ahead of next season.
Mercedes driver George Russell rounded out the top three times, with his teammate for next year Andrea Kimi Antonelli finishing fifth quickest.
Antonelli takes over from Hamilton and ran in the W15 for the first time since the Mexico GP weekend, when he took part in FP1. He also did another practice outing at Monza, although Antonelli ended it when he crashed after just 10 minutes.
Comparing Antonelli’s times with Lewis Hamilton’s from the Abu Dhabi weekend uncovers what could be a slight pace advantage for the 18-year-old Italian.
Kimi Antonelli’s times close to Lewis Hamilton’s during Abu Dhabi post-season test
Antonelli posted times that were close to Hamilton’s best in the W15 during the Abu Dhabi GP weekend.
The quickest lap by Antonelli was a 1:23.873s, which was just two tenths off the quickest time set by Hamilton during FP3 which was a 1:23.626s.
Of course it is difficult to read too much into these times considering we do not know the fuel loads of either, plus the tyres will be a different specification to the ones ran by Hamilton on the race weekend.
| Antonelli post-season test quickest | Hamilton’s times |
| 1:23.873 | Q1 – 1:23.887s |
| FP3 – 1:23.626s (most representative) | |
| FP2 – 1:24.119s | |
| FP1 – 1:24.806s |
Hamilton also did not reach his potential in qualifying after Mercedes made an error in their run plan, causing him to drop out in Q1.
Team principal Toto Wolff apologised for their ‘idiotic’ error after the session, having confined Hamilton to the back of the grid for their last race together. Hamilton would go on to finish P4, following a stunning last-lap overtake on Russell.
Kimi Antonelli nearly misses opportunity to test Mercedes ahead of 2025 debut
Antonelli completed 62 laps, which is impressive considering it was looking like he might not complete the test at Abu Dhabi.
The Italian had to pull out of the final round of the F2 championship due to illness and will also miss a scheduled test in Super Formula this week, which was due to take place at Suzuka.
READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats
Mercedes ran Frederik Vesti in the second car on the morning of the session, before he handed it over to Antonelli for the afternoon.
The Italian is likely to face more testing in the upcoming months, as he familirises himself more with the team ahead of his full-time 2025 debut.
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