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Charles Bradley

F1 results: Verstappen fastest in Abu Dhabi GP practice

MercedesLewis Hamilton was fastest in FP1, held in full daylight conditions, before Verstappen topped FP2 as darkness descended.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix FP1 results: Hamilton fastest from Russell

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 21 1'26.633     219.449
2 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 30 1'26.853 0.220 0.220 218.893
3 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 22 1'26.888 0.255 0.035 218.805
4 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 23 1'26.967 0.334 0.079 218.607
5 New Zealand Liam Lawson Red Bull 22 1'27.201 0.568 0.234 218.020
6 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 20 1'27.268 0.635 0.067 217.853
7 Russian Federation Robert Shwartzman Ferrari 24 1'27.429 0.796 0.161 217.451
8 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 21 1'27.619 0.986 0.190 216.980
9 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 23 1'27.655 1.022 0.036 216.891
10 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 26 1'27.840 1.207 0.185 216.434
11 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 28 1'27.845 1.212 0.005 216.422
12 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 27 1'27.891 1.258 0.046 216.308
13 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 28 1'27.991 1.358 0.100 216.063
14 Poland Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo 22 1'28.064 1.431 0.073 215.883
15 United States Logan Sargeant Williams 23 1'28.098 1.465 0.034 215.800
16 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 20 1'28.142 1.509 0.044 215.692
17 Brazil Pietro Fittipaldi Haas 26 1'28.204 1.571 0.062 215.541
18 Mexico Patricio O'Ward McLaren 22 1'28.350 1.717 0.146 215.185
19 Australia Jack Doohan Alpine 25 1'28.484 1.851 0.134 214.859
20 Brazil Felipe Drugovich Aston Martin 23 1'28.672 2.039 0.188 214.403

What happened in Abu Dhabi GP Free Practice 1?

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez set the early bar at 1m28.159s on soft tyres, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the first of the seven FP1 ‘rookies’ Liam Lawson, who was in for Max Verstappen at Red Bull and was fastest of the hard-tyred cars at the time.

Leclerc improved the P1 time to 1m27.917s before Perez beat that by 0.064s, as the two drivers who are locked together on points for second in the championship swapped the top spot.

Logan Sargeant (Williams) and Pietro Fittipaldi (Haas) jumped up to third and fourth just before half distance, Sargeant then spinning off at Turn 1 but just keeping it out of the wall.

Alex Albon (Williams) had a spell at the top of the times with 1m27.840s, before Perez retook it with 1m26.967s and Leclerc then lowered it to 1m26.888s.

Hamilton took P1 with 15 minutes to go with 1m26.633s, which remained the quickest time of the session, as George Russell went P2, two tenths off his teammate. Leclerc stayed third, ahead of Perez.

Lawson was fifth, and top rookie, ahead of Sebastian Vettel – at the other end of his F1 career in his final race weekend – for Aston Martin and Ferrari reserve Robert Shwartzman.

Of the other FP1 irregulars, Robert Kubica was 14th for Alfa Romeo, ahead of Sargeant, Fittipaldi, Pato O’Ward (McLaren), Jack Doohan (Alpine) and Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin).

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix FP2 results: Verstappen fastest from Russell

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 25 1'25.146     223.282
2 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 27 1'25.487 0.341 0.341 222.391
3 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 30 1'25.599 0.453 0.112 222.100
4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 22 1'25.761 0.615 0.162 221.681
5 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 26 1'25.852 0.706 0.091 221.446
6 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 31 1'25.932 0.786 0.080 221.240
7 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 28 1'26.038 0.892 0.106 220.967
8 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 29 1'26.043 0.897 0.005 220.954
9 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 14 1'26.124 0.978 0.081 220.746
10 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 29 1'26.300 1.154 0.176 220.296
11 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 28 1'26.377 1.231 0.077 220.100
12 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 28 1'26.395 1.249 0.018 220.054
13 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 30 1'26.479 1.333 0.084 219.840
14 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 27 1'26.547 1.401 0.068 219.667
15 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 30 1'26.680 1.534 0.133 219.330
16 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 29 1'26.750 1.604 0.070 219.153
17 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 26 1'26.839 1.693 0.089 218.929
18 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 25 1'26.915 1.769 0.076 218.737
19 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 29 1'27.036 1.890 0.121 218.433
20 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 30 1'27.262 2.116 0.226 217.868

What happened in Abu Dhabi GP Free Practice 2?

As the sun began to set, Leclerc made the early going at 1m26.045s – already faster than FP1 despite running medium tyres – ahead of Esteban Ocon’s Alpine and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari).

After missing FP1, Verstappen was first to use softs in this session, immediately jumping up to P1 with 1m25.449s and then lowering it to 1m25.335s. Perez went P2, half a second off, before Leclerc got to within 0.264s of Verstappen.

Russell grabbed P2, 0.152s off the pace, with Hamilton going fourth but setting the fastest first sector.

Verstappen ran again and reduced his laptime to 1m25.146s, putting him over three tenths clear with 20 minutes remaining under the floodlights. Russell stayed second, ahead of Leclerc, Hamilton, Perez and Sainz.

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