Who are the drivers taking part in F1 post-season test at Abu Dhabi?

The 2022 F1 season is officially over, but the grind is not. Post-season tests are being carried out in Abu Dhabi, primarily to try out the new Pirelli compound tires which will be used for the 2023 season.

Teams will be looking forward to running their new recruits in these tests, with training and testing opportunities seeming very limited before the 2023 F1 season kicks off with the race in Bahrain. Each team will have two cars running, one being designated to a 'rookie' driver, and the other for the regular drivers.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri, AlphaTauri's Nyck de Vries, and Williams' Logan Sargeant will be looking to gain some much-needed knowledge, insights, and experience using the rookie-designated cars. These tests will also be an opportunity for Aston Martin, Alpine, and Haas to run their incoming F1 drivers, Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly, and Nico Hulkenberg, respectively.

Some regular drivers will share one car, with teams like Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes using both of their drivers during the test.

These are the drivers taking part in the post-season test for their respective teams:-

1. Red Bull- Liam Dawson (Young Driver), Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
2. Mercedes- Frederik Vesti (Young Driver), Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
3. Ferrari- Robert Shwartzman (Young Driver), Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz.
4. McLaren- Oscar Piastri (Young Driver), Lando Norris.
5. Aston Martin- Felipe Drugovich (Young Driver), Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll.
6. Alpine- Jack Doohan (Young Driver), Pierre Gasly.
7. AlphaTauri- Nyck de Vries (Young Driver), Yuki Tsunoda.
8. Alfa Romeo- Theo Pourchaire (Young Driver), Valtteri Bottas.
9. Williams- Logan Sargeant (Young Driver), Alex Albon
10. Haas- Pietro Fittipaldi (Young Driver), Nico Hulkenberg

It sure seems like the teams are preparing themselves for the 2023 F1 season.

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2023 F1 Pirelli tires to be different from all earlier tires

Formula 1 is set for yet another tire revamp. A sixth compound will be added to the dry tire range from Pirelli for the 2023 season, with the C0 joining the familiar C1-5. But it won't be the C0 that will be renewed, it will instead be the C1, as it is a fresh new technology that is being introduced to bridge the performance gap between the harder compounds of the tire.

Speaking to the media, Mario Isola, Pirelli's head of motorsport, gave an explanation:

"We have introduced a new C1 compound and have decided to homologate for next year six compounds, not five,” said Isola. The current C1 that worked quite well at, for example, Zandvoort and Silverstone, we didn’t want to eliminate."

"We decided to introduce a new C1 with more grip compared to the old C1, so the old C1 is now the C0 to avoid renaming all the others. We have the new C1 and then the C2, C3, C4 and C5 are the same as this year. The new C1 is much closer to the C2. I would say the only target we didn’t achieve was a new C3 more in the centre between C2 and C4."

With the new tires being tested, let's see what wonders the new compound can work on the circuit.