Alonso finished seventh in the Abu Dhabi F1 GP.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was fastest on the final day of testing Formula 1's new Pirelli tyres in Abu Dhabi. World champion Sebastian Vettel, who pipped Alonso to the title in Abu Dhabi on 14 November, was promoted to second after Michael Schumacher cut a chicane. Alonso has compared missing out on the driver's title with the Netherland's defeat in the World Cup final. "I would think it's the same thing the Dutch felt when they lost the World Cup final back in July," admitted Alonso. "Then, after a few weeks, they realised they had achieved something, while so many others had not even got anywhere close. "The same goes for us: the final victory eluded us, but in any case we had a great season, with a fantastic fight back in the second part of the year. Next year we will try again, because we are Ferrari!" Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa was 0.330 seconds quicker than Vettel in Friday's test with a fastest lap of one minute 40.170, while Alonso turned in a lap of 1:40:529 as the Spaniard topped Saturday's times. Michael Schumacher, who has struggled with front-end grip throughout the 2010 season, was initially placed second-fastest, putting in a lap just 0.156s off Alonso with 15 minutes of the day remaining, but this was later disallowed due to the German cutting a chicane, which dropped him to seventh. McLaren test driver Gary Paffett - standing in for Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button - was sixth on the time sheets. The focus of the test is for teams to understand how the new tyres work and what that will mean for their 2011 cars. Italian company Pirelli is replacing Japan's Bridgestone as F1's sole tyre supplier next season. Pirelli is planning to use information provided by drivers and engineers to modify the tyres before official F1 pre-season testing starts in February next year. There will be four tests before the 2011 season starts in Bahrain on 13 March. ANDREW BENSON'S BLOG Who were the top 10 drivers of 2010?

The first three tests are in Spain, on 1-3 February at the Ricardo Tormo circuit near Valencia, 10-13 February at Jerez and 18-21 February at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya. The final test will be in Bahrain a week before the first race, from 3-6 March. Pirelli was last involved in F1 in 1991, but has been preparing for its return by running a 2009 Toyota chassis in Europe this summer, with Nick Heidfeld, Romain Grosjean and Pedro de la Rosa at the wheel.



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