A bit of racing action is probably over for the 2024 season, but there will be a pivotal day of post-season F1 testing in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Some drivers could move before their 2025 switch, next year’s rookies can experience F1 machinery and young drivers will get a chance to test the waters with their skills.
F1 testing: Abu Dhabi after-season running, what is it for?
Pirelli, F1 tyre manufacturers, will be keen to get as much data as possible from this day of testing to guide their 2025 compounds – hence 10 of the drivers taking part will be in action under the aegis of tyre testing for that purpose.
These 2025 tyres will be being studied by Pirelli and their adaptation or upgrades for next season and for drivers, a chance to get any last data they can get on the track before the winter break.
As rules are fixed, they can always use any input they get on the track in Abu Dhabi to design the next season’s cars, so if they can rack up more laps that will be great.
Aside from that, any drivers whose teams were allowed to make early switch – Carlos Sainz, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon – will also be spending the day with new crewmates to get to know them a little bit – ready for next season.
And what about the young driver exam?
One driver doesn’t necessarily need to be ‘young’ to qualify for this section, just haven’t been involved in two Grands Prix or more.
Either teams run one driver for the whole day or split up the day with two of their young guns Felipe Drugovich and Jak Crawford; Mercedes and Sauber also use the day to integrate their rookie recruits from 2025, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Gabriel Bortoleto.
The 30-year-old endurance athlete Ryo Hirakawa starts for Haas in this bracket, having first taken part in free practice with McLaren on Friday.
So which drivers are going to be swapping cockpits in Abu Dhabi?
As mentioned Carlos Sainz has been moved to Williams after his last race for Ferrari, Esteban Ocon pulled out of the Alpine circuit a race early to get some tyres for Haas testing, and Nico Hulkenberg will return to Sauber.
Then there is the Red Bull RB20 to be tried by Yuki Tsunoda, who admitted that this will be his first race outside of AlphaTauri/VCARB since entering Formula 1.
Lewis Hamilton won’t be early on at Ferrari, though he and Mercedes have already announced that they will host a ‘hello week’ for him this week when he is roaming between the different headquarters of each before heading off to Maranello in January.