Mercedes’ George Russell was fastest in Free Practice 1, by 0.28s from Aston Martin’s reserve driver Felipe Drugovich.
Leclerc paced a massively disrupted FP2 with a fastest time of 1m24.809s, following two red flags for big crashes for Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Nico Hulkenberg (Haas).
Abu Dhabi GP FP1 results: Russell fastest from Drugovich
Cla
Nº
Driver
Car / Engine
Time
Delay
Laps
1
63
George Russell
Mercedes
1’26.072
26
2
34
Felipe Drugovich
Aston Martin/Mercedes
1’26.360
0.288
26
3
3
Daniel Ricciardo
AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT
1’26.433
0.361
26
4
77
Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo/Ferrari
1’26.453
0.381
21
5
18
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin/Mercedes
1’26.631
0.559
21
6
81
Oscar Piastri
McLaren/Mercedes
1’26.665
0.593
25
7
55
Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari
1’26.676
0.604
24
8
39
R.Shwartzman
Ferrari
1’26.703
0.631
25
9
10
Pierre Gasly
Alpine/Renault
1’26.720
0.648
26
10
22
Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT
1’26.725
0.653
27
11
2
Logan Sargeant
Williams/Mercedes
1’26.742
0.670
27
12
42
Frederik Vesti
Mercedes
1’26.815
0.743
27
13
61
Jack Doohan
Alpine/Renault
1’26.865
0.793
23
14
98
Théo Pourchaire
Alfa Romeo/Ferrari
1’27.093
1.021
20
15
29
Patricio O’Ward
McLaren/Mercedes
1’27.114
1.042
23
16
36
Jake Dennis
Red Bull/Honda RBPT
1’27.208
1.136
24
17
37
Isack Hadjar
Red Bull/Honda RBPT
1’27.244
1.172
20
18
45
Zak O’Sullivan
Williams/Mercedes
1’27.460
1.388
28
19
20
Kevin Magnussen
Haas/Ferrari
1’27.462
1.390
26
20
50
Ollie Bearman
Haas/Ferrari
1’27.569
1.497
24
What happened in Abu Dhabi GP Free Practice 1?
This full-daylight session featured 10 rookies, who have contested two or fewer grands prix.
Russell set the early pace on medium tyres at 1m26.313s and improved to 1m26.072s on softs.
Drugovich, who was second quickest, was the only rookie in the top seven, lapping in 1m26.360s, ahead of regulars Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri), Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), Lance Stroll (Aston), Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari).
Robert Shwartzman was eighth in Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, ahead of Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri). Logan Sargeant was 11th for Williams but almost caused a shunt for Jack Doohan in the second Alpine, who was 13th fastest.
Frederik Vesti drove Lewis Hamilton’s Williams to 12th and IndyCar ace Pato O’Ward was 15th in Lando Norris’s McLaren.
Both regular Red Bull drivers gave up their seats in this session, with Formula E champion Jake Dennis and F2 star Isack Hadjar 16th and 17th respectively.
Zak O’Sullivan had a huge slide at the final corner on the way to 18th for Williams.
Abu Dhabi GP FP2 results: Leclerc fastest from Norris
Cla
Nº
Driver
Car / Engine
Time
Delay
Laps
1
16
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1’24.809
16
2
4
Lando Norris
McLaren/Mercedes
1’24.852
0.043
18
3
1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull/Honda RBPT
1’24.982
0.173
17
4
77
Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo/Ferrari
1’25.024
0.215
16
5
11
Sergio Pérez
Red Bull/Honda RBPT
1’25.112
0.303
17
6
63
George Russell
Mercedes
1’25.122
0.313
17
7
24
Zhou Guanyu
Alfa Romeo/Ferrari
1’25.223
0.414
18
8
44
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1’25.315
0.506
16
9
10
Pierre Gasly
Alpine/Renault
1’25.321
0.512
15
10
81
Oscar Piastri
McLaren/Mercedes
1’25.361
0.552
18
11
14
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin/Mercedes
1’25.397
0.588
17
12
3
Daniel Ricciardo
AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT
1’25.467
0.658
16
13
18
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin/Mercedes
1’25.492
0.683
17
14
31
Esteban Ocon
Alpine/Renault
1’25.566
0.757
17
15
22
Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT
1’25.669
0.860
17
16
23
Alexander Albon
Williams/Mercedes
1’26.081
1.272
20
17
20
Kevin Magnussen
Haas/Ferrari
1’26.413
1.604
18
18
2
Logan Sargeant
Williams/Mercedes
1’26.659
1.850
17
19
55
Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari
1’26.707
1.898
4
20
27
Nico Hülkenberg
Haas/Ferrari
1’27.147
2.338
7
What happened in Abu Dhabi GP Free Practice 2?
FP2 was red-flagged after eight minutes when Sainz crashed heavily at Turn 3, the Spaniard blaming dirty air from a car in front as his car bottomed out over a bump and spun wildly into the Techpro barriers. The left side of his Ferrari was wrecked in the high-speed impact.
Over half the duration of the session was gone by the time it went green again, but a second red flag was caused almost immediately by Hulkenberg crashing on the exit of Turn 1. He spun to the inside and backed his Haas into the wall.
Russell led the way as the session restarted again in full darkness, with a 1m25.906s set on mediums inside the first few minutes. That was quickly eclipsed by Leclerc’s 1m24.809s on softs, with Norris getting within 0.043s and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 0.173s away in third.
Bottas was fourth from Sergio Perez (Red Bull), Russell and Zhou Guanyu (Alfa).
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