F1 Abu Dhabi GP: Lando Norris pips Max Verstappen to…

Lando Norris went quickest in opening practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the weekend that he could claim his maiden Formula 1 world championship.

The McLaren driver set a 1m24.485s on used soft tyres, which meant he pipped second-placed Max Verstappen who is also his nearest challenger in the championship.

Norris will become champion should he claim a podium on Sunday, as he is 12 points above the Red Bull driver and 16 ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri who was one of nine drivers to sit out first practice.

That’s because F1 rules dictate that drivers must skip at least two FP1s during the season and give their seat to a driver with no more than two grand prix starts.

IndyCar star Pato O'Ward therefore took Piastri’s place and he was one of nine rookies to contest opening practice at Yas Marina Circuit, which was hot and sunny for the final weekend of the 2025 campaign.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images)

With it being the season finale, all cars were quick to enter the track during the opening five minutes, and it was Verstappen who set the early pace with a 1m27.130s on the hard tyre.

This was 0.038s quicker than runner-up George Russell on the same rubber, though not everybody started on the hards with O’Ward using soft tyres and several others – including Norris – opting for the mediums.

Such variety took place during an opening 30 minutes that was dictated by track evolution, as various names greeted the top of the leaderboard from Norris to Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar – who this week was announced as Verstappen’s Red Bull 2026 team-mate.

It was only until the halfway mark when drivers converged onto the softs that the usual frontrunners rose to the top. Verstappen was first to do so, breaking the 1m25s barrier with a 1m24.493s on his opening soft tyre run, 0.026s quicker than Norris and 0.074s above third-placed Charles Leclerc.

The championship top two would then trade positions as Norris pipped the four-time world champion by 0.008s with a lap time that would subsequently go unbeaten.

That’s because several cars went back onto the other compounds, including Verstappen with the hards, to complete their long-run programmes in a dramaless end to FP1.

Arthur Leclerc was one of nine rookies in action in FP1 (Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images)

So, the leaderboard largely remained as it was following the short soft-tyre window, as Leclerc completed the top three with a 1m24.501s, 0.016s behind Norris, but still complained of no grip and being “so slow”.

Mercedes teenager Andrea Kimi Antonelli was then 0.123s off the Monegasque in fourth with Nico Hulkenberg completing the top five. Russell was sixth in the sister Mercedes, 0.248s off the pace and one spot above Hulkenberg’s team-mate Bortoleto in a strong showing for Sauber, which will enjoy its final race before becoming Audi.

The top seven times were all set on the soft tyre, and it was Oliver Bearman in eighth who went quickest on the mediums, as he completed a 1m24.759s for Haas.

Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto then rounded up the top 10, meaning all nine rookies finished in the bottom half of the order.

Endurance world champion Ryo Hirakawa was quickest of the nine with a 1m24,934s, ahead of Paul Aron (13th), O’Ward (14th), Arvid Lindblad (15th), Arthur Leclerc (16th), Ayumu Iwasa (17th), Luke Browning (18th), Jak Crawford (19th) and Cian Shields (20th).

F1 Abu Dhabi GP - FP1 results

FP1

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	28	1'24.485		S	225.029
2	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	30	+0.008 1'24.493	0.008	S	225.007
3	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	28	+0.016 1'24.501	0.008	S	224.986
4	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	30	+0.123 1'24.608	0.107	S	224.702
5	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27	Sauber	Ferrari	28	+0.144 1'24.629	0.021	S	224.646
6	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	29	+0.248 1'24.733	0.104	S	224.370
7	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	Sauber	Ferrari	29	+0.257 1'24.742	0.009	S	224.346
8	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	14	+0.274 1'24.759	0.017	M	224.301
9	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	27	+0.286 1'24.771	0.012	S	224.270
10	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Renault	28	+0.370 1'24.855	0.084	S	224.048
11	R. Hirakawa Haas F1 Team	50	Haas	Ferrari	28	+0.449 1'24.934	0.079	M	223.839
12	I. Hadjar Racing Bulls	6	RB	Honda	31	+0.492 1'24.977	0.043	M	223.726
13	P. Aron Alpine	61	Alpine	Renault	27	+0.719 1'25.204	0.227	S	223.130
14	P. O'Ward McLaren	89	McLaren	Mercedes	28	+0.761 1'25.246	0.042	M	223.020
15	A. Lindblad Red Bull Racing	36	Red Bull	Red Bull	26	+0.771 1'25.256	0.010	S	222.994
16	A. Leclerc Ferrari	39	Ferrari	Ferrari	27	+0.875 1'25.360	0.104	S	222.722
17	A. Iwasa Racing Bulls	40	RB	Honda	30	+0.990 1'25.475	0.115	S	222.422
18	L. Browning Williams	46	Williams	Mercedes	18	+1.005 1'25.490	0.015	S	222.383
19	J. Crawford Aston Martin Racing	35	Aston Martin	Mercedes	24	+1.404 1'25.889	0.399	M	221.350
20	C. Shields Aston Martin Racing	34	Aston Martin	Mercedes	22	+1.947 1'26.432	0.543	S	219.960
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