Vettel fastest as Abu Dhabi test wraps up F1 2017

Sebastian Vettel has claimed the final top spot of 2017 in Formula 1 for Ferrari by going fastest on the final day of the post-season Pirelli tyre test in Abu Dhabi.

The German driver repeated team-mate Kimi Raikkonen’s feat from day one by setting the fastest outright time of the day as the drivers got to grips with the 2018 Pirelli tyre compounds at the Yas Marina circuit, with Vettel’s fastest lap of 1m 37.551s quick enough to qualify inside the top seven compared to the Q3 lap times produced during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix race weekend.

The time is effectively meaningless with nearest rival and Abu Dhabi GP pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas almost a second slower for Mercedes but the weekend's race winner did take second place on the times with a marathon 141 laps notched up on Wednesday.

Max Verstappen provided a familiar look to the top three teams by going third fastest for Red Bull with 132 laps completed on his final day of track action for 2017, while Force India split its day between regular drivers Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez who placed fifth and fourth respectively on the final timesheet.

After impressing with 100 laps of testing on Tuesday, Robert Kubica returned to action for Williams for the final two hours to add another 28 laps and a best time of 1m 39.485s to go seventh fastest and almost two seconds quicker than his best effort from the first day.

Stoffel Vandoorne suffered a near-identical off-track moment to McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso from yesterday when he also crashed into the barriers in the final sector to truncate his track time to 105 laps.

Kevin Magnussen rounded out his maiden year with Haas in ninth fastest on the times with 124 laps to his name ahead of Williams tester Sergey Sirotkin with 86 laps on his debut for the Grove-based squad before he handed over to Kubica.

Charles Leclerc, who looks set to join Sauber permanently in 2018, produced the highest total of laps with 148 and a best effort of 1m 40.666s while the Swiss team grabbed the headlines after announcing its deal with Alfa Romeo in a new title sponsor and technical partnership for 2018.

With McLaren third and reserve driver Lando Norris completing a blind Pirelli tyre test after missing out in Brazil due to its cancellation over security fears, Toro Rosso pair Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly rounded out the timesheet having enjoyed half a day of track running each.