Yas Marina Circuit, Tuesday 28 November

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri, Pato O'Ward, and Race Engineering Director Hiroshi Imai after the 2023 post-season test.

"The end of season test is complete. It’s been a nice final day on track. We’ve learnt a few new things with the car but also with my own driving, which is always good to work on. Hopefully we can take the momentum from the second half of the season into 2024 and start strong. I’m looking forward to the break. I’ll be seeing everyone at the factory one more time, and then head off on holiday. Thanks to the whole team at McLaren for your support this year, it’s been memorable, and I can’t wait to push on in 2024."

Pato O'Ward #29

“I'm really happy with my day on track today. I got to work on a wide range of areas with high and low fuel runs. It was great to complete lots of laps on the different tyres and it never stops to amaze me how capable these machines are. The car is just fantastic and very enjoyable to drive. Overall, a really positive day in Abu Dhabi with the team. Thank you McLaren for the opportunity. I’m looking forward to getting back in the seat of an F1 car again soon.”

Hiroshi Imai
Director, Race Engineering

“It’s been a very productive day in Abu Dhabi as we conclude the 2023 season. We did a lot of test items which we can’t normally cover on a race weekend because of track time and tyre availability. We’ve come away from the test with a lot of learning to understand the tyres and the interaction between the tyre and car characteristics.

“Oscar completed 123 laps, including a lot of long runs, which is helpful for the team to understand tyre behaviour and for Oscar to build on maximising performance in the long stints. Pato did 103 laps, including a variety of long and performance runs with different setups. This was good for him to understand the performance of the car in-depth and tyre degradation characteristics.

“We now return to the factory with a lot of data in hand to analyse over the winter and into pre-season. I would like to thank everyone for their hard work throughout the 2023 season, both at the factory and also trackside, as well to everyone who has supported us, especially the families of our team members for their incredible support.

“We made good progress through the year, but there is still a lot of work to do in order to continue bringing ourselves forward towards the front of the grid in 2024.”

Today's official testing times

What's next?

Testing has now concluded following the 2023 season finale in Abu Dhabi. The team will return to the McLaren Technology Centre and start preparations for the 2024 season and pre-season testing in Bahrain.