Fourteen drivers were on duty today, with two drivers, Robert Wickens and Jan Charouz, driving for their second outfits in as many days.

It was the hottest day of the test so far, with air temperatures reaching 33 degrees C and track temperatures creeping up to 55 degrees.

Red Bull's morning programme went to plan, but the afternoon was interrupted by a number of reliability issues, which prevented the team from
fully completing its planned tyre test.

"It was a frustrating day," admitted Ian Morgan, the Austrian outfit's Head of Race Engineering, "due to a few niggly reliability issues which hampered our progress in the afternoon, but we had a good morning.

"Looking to Jean-Eric, I must say I have been very impressed with him during this test," he continued. "He's not really been in our car for any length of time before this week and he hasn't made a single mistake. He's good at taking in information and using it as required and he's been consistent and controlled. He was able to do as we ask and put in a lap time whenever we needed, he's done a good job."

Like, Vergne, and Bianchi at Ferrari, Sam Bird has been on duty for all three days, the Mercedes driver completing 104 laps on his way to posting the second best time of the day.

The German team ran a 2012 exhaust position this morning and collected data to help develop its package for the new regulations. In the afternoon the team returned to a standard car specification and focused on developing the set-up of the car on the soft tyres.

"We again had a very good day today," said Bird. "We were focusing on further development work for 2012 which went well and the team are very positive about the results gained. I would like to say thank you to Mercedes for trusting me with the driving responsibilities for this three-day test. It's been a very positive and enjoyable experience for me, and I've greatly enjoyed working with the team."

"We have had a very good test in Abu Dhabi this week," added Ross Brawn, "and my compliments to Sam and the team at the Yas Marina Circuit for their efforts over the three days. The test has enabled us to make a good start to our 2012 preparations, and provided a wealth of data for our engineers to study.

"Sam has performed extremely well this week, providing consistency and accuracy in both his driving and feedback, and our engineers in Abu Dhabi have been very impressed with his contribution."

For Ferrari, Bianchi spent the morning working on various different set-ups on the car and on aerodynamic measurement, while in the afternoon he concentrated on evaluating the experimental tyres over a long distance. By the end of the day, he had completed 106 laps, more than anyone else, posting a best time of 1:41.347.

"These have been three very busy days of testing for me and the team," said Bianchi. "I am pleased with the work we achieved, because we were able to get through practically everything scheduled for this test. Specifically today, we did some long runs to check the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres over a long distance. During the three days, I only used the soft compound, because it was the one that best suited the work the team wanted to carry out on track."

While British Prime minister David Cameron was visiting his team's Woking HQ, Oliver Turvey was completing 89 laps of the Yas Marina, posting the fourth best time of the three-day test.

The 2011 runners-up finished off their initial running of aero and mechanical systems for 2012, completing some useful fundamental research which will be fed into the development and build of next year's car, the MP4-27A.