Jolyon Palmer finished fourth fastest in Pirelli's end-of-season tyre test today (December 1), which was held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The Lotus F1 Team driver completed 90 laps of the 3.45-mile track and posted a best lap time of 1m44.568s, less than half-a-second shy of McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne who topped the timesheets.

The main aim of the test was for Pirelli, Formula One's tyre manufacturer, to trial "several different potential variations" of the new ultra-soft compound along with new front and rear constructions of other compounds as teams were banned from trying new parts for their cars. Jolyon finished ahead of multiple world champion Sebastian Vettel and the Mercedes of DTM Champion Pascal Wehrlein, with only the aforementioned Vandoorne, Finn Kimi Raikkonen and Sauber's Marcus Ericsson quicker than the 24-year-old.

Paul Hembery, Motorsport Director of Pirelli, commented: "We had one shot when it came to testing tyres for next season, and we can be satisfied by what we've achieved in this test, even if we have to fully analyse the data. We've tested different versions of the new ultra-soft compound for 2016, which was one of the targets for this session.

"The ultra-soft's target for 2016 is to introduce a compound softer than the super-soft and mainly designed as aggressive choice for street circuits: with better performance than the latest version of the super-soft tyre and faster degradation, in order to allow the teams to take a more aggressive approach to race strategy.

"Whether this will produce more pit stops, or any difference in strategies, it's too early to say for now. But it seems we are heading in the right direction: the ultra-soft is expected to offer more possibilities for certain races."

Pirelli F1 test day - Abu Dhabi - Times

1.   Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, 1m44.103s    
2.   Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m44.456s    
3.   Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1m44.480s    
4.   Jolyon Palmer, Lotus F1 Team, 1m44.568s     
5.   Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1m44.940s    
6.   Pascal Wehrlein, Mercedes, 1m45.605s     
7.   Daniel Ricciardo , Red Bull, 1m45.805s    
8.   Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1m45.849s    
9.   Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1m45.852s    
10.  Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1m45.940s   
11.  Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1m46.309s    
12.  Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1m46.995s    
13.  Adderly Fong, Sauber, 1m48.439s    
14.  Alfonso Celis Jr , Force India, 1m48.545s    
15.  Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1m49.593s    
16.  Jordan King, Manor, 1m49.661s