Goethe says his clean sweep of Day 1 at Yas Marina post-season testing ‘shows progress’

Oliver Goethe was very happy with his performance across both sessions of Day 1 at the Yas Marina post-season test, as the MP Motorsport driver lead the way in both the morning and afternoon.

The German driver got off to a good start when he set the pace in the opening three hours. His 1:38.979 was the benchmark time, with Joshua Duerksen in second 0.177s behind.

Goethe then returned to the top of the timesheets late in the day, when he and a few others fitted on the Supersoft tyres. The MP driver completed a 1:37.203 to beat Rafael Câmara to P1 by just 0.066s.

READ MORE: Goethe completes clean sweep of Day 1 post-season testing at Yas Marina

This left Goethe and his MP team at the top of the leaderboard to end Day 1, and speaking in the paddock afterwards, he was very happy with how things went.

“It went really well today,” said Goethe. “Fastest in the morning and fastest in the afternoon. It's a very good feeling, but of course it's just testing.

“It doesn't mean anything, but it shows the progress that has been happening in the last few rounds. The pace is there, and of course we are going to try to keep improving, keep working hard, and make the gap even bigger hopefully.”

While Goethe, his teammate Gabriele Minì, and a few other teams ran the Supersofts late in the afternoon, many in the field chose to keep the softer rubber for the final two days.

AS IT HAPPENED: Follow the action from Day 1 of post-season testing at Yas Marina

The 21-year-old says it was always part of their plan to do so, and running them alongside other tough competitors allows MP to have an idea of how they compare to their rivals.

“We planned to run one set of Supersofts this afternoon,” he said. “I think a few other teams did as well, Invicta, one of the Campos' and PREMA, so some good teams.

“So there were still some good references, and this morning I was quickest on equal terms, so I am really happy with the progress of the team and myself. I am looking forward to two more days of this.”

Focus shifts to the next two days of post-season testing, but for Goethe and MP, the tests are not all about speed, as they look to put an emphasis on the things that will help them be competitive in 2026.

READ MORE: Arvid Lindblad wins Aramco Best Performance Award

“We don't have so much testing, so we plan to make use of these days the most we can,” he continued. “To do the most running we can with the tyres allocated.

“So things like practice starts are important, race runs, as well as performance runs, trying new setups, so it's very interesting for the drivers and the engineers to work on these things because on the race weekends we do not have as much time.”