Abu Dhabi GP: Max Verstappen outpaces Mercedes in FP1

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was the fastest in the first practice session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Verstappen was two tenths of a second clear of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas who was the second fastest as Lewis Hamilton came in third.

The Friday afternoon practice session was the first opportunity Formula 1 drivers had sampling the renovated Yas Marina Circuit. The track underwent alterations on Turn 5, 9 and 12 to 15 complex.

Verstappen set the pace on the early stages of the session despite complaining about his steering wheel which he described as ‘right hand down and really annoying to drive.’ However, he was able to beat title rival Lewis Hamilton by two tenths of a second in the first Red Bull runs.

Lewis Hamilton was able to get within 0.055s off Verstappen but the Red Bull driver extended his lead with three tenths of a second. Hamilton would later have another flying lap getting within 0.033 of Verstappen’s 1m 25.009s time but got his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits on the last turn.

Verstappen’s lap time proved unbeatable even in the final stages as Bottas managed to come within 0.196s finishing P2. Hamilton came in at P3 just 0.008s clear of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

Yuki Tsunoda started the weekend with a stunning performance for AlphaTauri which landed him at P5, closely followed by Alpine’s Fernando Alonso. Yuki’s teammate Pierre Gasly finished P7 as Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished P8 and P9 respectively. Ferrari encountered problems as Leclerc lost the first 20 minutes of the practice session, Sainz also complained that his car felt ‘quite bad’.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10. Alpine’s second car finished at P11 after Esteban Ocon experienced a technical hitch in the opening stages of the session slowing down, he also had a close shave after missing the wall on Turn 14. Lando Norris finished P12 ahead of Kimi Raikkonen who is on his final weekend racing in Formula 1. His teammate Antonio Giovinazzi finished P14.

Lance Stroll finished P15 and Daniel Ricciardo closely followed in P16. Jack Aitken finished 17th in his debut practice session in Formula 1 as he acted as a replacement for George Russell in Williams. The sister car finished P18 with Nicholas Latifi as Haas duo Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin finished P19 and P20 respectively.

2021 F1 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (1)