Magnussen tops timesheets at Yas Marina

06/11/2012

Kevin Magnussen, son of former F1 driver Jan Magnussen, topped the timesheets on the first day of the Young Driver Test at the Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.

Seven drivers were on duty for six teams just 48 hours after the circuited hosted the eighteenth round of the 2012 season, said by many to be one of the best.

McLaren had Magnussen on duty in the morning before putting test driver Gary Paffett in the car for the afternoon session.

The morning was spent acclimatising Magnussen to his first run in an F1 car. That meant a focus on a suite of gradual set-up changes, firstly to introduce him to the behaviour of a grand prix car under different mechanical influences, but also to fine-tune the car's set-up to his personal preference. The team is said to be impressed with the Dane's progress and aptitude.

Paffett undertook the afternoon's running, undertaking a challenging programme primarily focusing on evaluating a wide number of aerodynamic and suspension developments - either for imminent use in the final two races, or for future development for next year's car.

Paffett's large workload also required a consistent baseline, meaning he drove without the benefit of DRS and some way below the limit in order to eliminate unwanted variables.

Paffett concludes his running tomorrow morning after the team completes a number of larger mechanical changes overnight, with Oliver Turvey starting a similar programme in the afternoon.

Red Bull Junior driver Antonio Felix da Costa was at the wheel of the RB8. Running during daylight, rather than the day/night schedule of the Grand Prix, the Austrian team split the allotted time between mechanical work in the morning and aero-mapping during the afternoon. The full programme was completed, with Antonio completing 79 laps.

"This was my first time driving an RB8 at a proper test, with proper tyres on a real circuit, and… wow!" said the Portuguese. "I was perhaps a little anxious beforehand, but ultimately the pedals and the steering wheel are in the usual places.

"There's a lot to learn," he added, "particularly with the buttons on the steering wheel, and it took one or two runs to get completely comfortable with all of that - but I think we had a good day."

Having previously only enjoyed a demo run, today, newly crowned 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 World Series champion, 21-year old Robin Frijns got his first taste of F1 proper, the youngster covering 78 laps, almost one and half times last Sunday's race distance.

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