Vodafone McLaren Mercedes wrote:Day one of testing at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi as Kevin Magnussen and Gary Paffett take the stage.
Date Tuesday November 6 2012
Drivers Kevin Magnussen (am)/Gary Paffett (pm)
Location Yas Marina Circuit
Track length 5.554km
Laps 40 (Kevin)/44 (Gary)
Km covered 222/24
Best laptime 1m42.651s
Programme
The morning’s session was spent acclimatising Kevin Magnussen to his first run in a Formula 1 car. That meant a focus on a suite of gradual set-up changes, firstly to introduce Kevin 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 were impressed with the Dane’s progress and aptitude. He completed 40 laps/222km.
Gary 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. He completed 44 laps/244km.
Gary’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.
What’s next
Gary concludes his running tomorrow morning after the team completes a number of larger mechanical changes overnight. Oliver Turvey starts a similar programme in the afternoon.