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Formula 1
Abu Dhabi GP
F1 Abu Dhabi GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2
All of the Friday practice action from the Abu Dhabi GP at Yas Marina
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Bottas is back into the pits sitting in P7.
Bottas nudges the barrier with his right rear. He asks Mercedes' engineers to check over the car.
Verstappen slots into P2 but is 0.2s adrift of Hamilton, who is the only driver in the 1m24s bracket.
Norris back to the top but Hamilton eclipses the McLaren driver's pace with a 1m24.943s.
Meanwhile, Verstappen has moved to P5 courtesy of a 1m25.629s.
Alpine's Esteban Ocon is reporting a possible issue with his headrest.
Hamilton appears to be on medium tyres. Norris set his time on the softs. Ricciardo joins the session, his McLaren is also on softs.
Stopwatch
Hamilton's first lap sends him to the top with a 1m25.127s.
Stopwatch
Norris now to the top with a 1m25.153s.
Bottas posts the first indicative time with a 1m25.339s.
The track temperature has dropped 10 degrees since the end of FP1. Air temp: 25.2C and Track Temp: 30.6C.
Plenty of cars heading out onto the track. In fact everyone is out apart from Daniel Ricciardo.
Green flag
We are Go, Go, Go for FP2.
So the pace Verstappen set in FP1 was a 1m25.009s benchmark.
We are just five minutes away from getting things underway here.
A big talking point ahead of this weekend has been the track changes to the Yas Marina Circuit. The consensus from the F2 drivers at least is that the re-profiled sections of track including Turn 5 and Turn 9 won't improve overtaking when we come to racing.
Who will shine in FP2? The tension is building nicely.
Lewis Hamilton was third fastest behind teammate Valtteri Bottas.
So just to remind anyone who didn't see FP1. Max Verstappen set the pace in the first practice session so first blood to him in this title decider.
The sun is beginning to set at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Welcome back to live updates from the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Free practice 2 is coming right up.
After an action-packed morning as drivers got to grips with the revamped circuit, we'll have a little break now before returning for FP2 at 1pm UK time. We'll see you then!
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Here's the full report from FP1, in case you missed any of the action: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-abu-dhabi-gp-verstappen-fastest-from-bottas-in-opening-practice/6870117/
On the whole, it looked like the track changes made the lap more challenging for the drivers. Through the Turn 9 banked hairpin, with Norris riding the kerb on the exit and Raikkonen spinning, and the hotel complex - which now appears to be one, long left-hander with the drivers not really straightening the wheel, we think the changes constitute an improvement. Whether it will do much to the racing product remains to be seen of course.
Williams reserve Aitken headed Latifi in an impressive return to the cockpit, while Schumacher was six tenths clear of Mazepin in the Haas at the tail end of the pack.
Just on the fringes of the top 10 are Ocon, Norris, Turn 9 spinner Raikkonen and Giovinazzi, with Stroll 15th ahead of a disappointing Ricciardo.
Alonso takes sixth ahead of Gasly, for once outpaced by his team-mate, with Leclerc and Sainz next up for Ferrari and Vettel, despite his spin, completing the top 10.
So it's Verstappen fastest in FP1 from the Mercedes pair, Hamilton left to rue running wide at Turn 16 which cost him a time that was within a hundredth of the Red Bull man. Perez takes fourth, with Tsunoda an impressive fifth.
It's a dramatic end to the session for Vettel, who dips his right-front wheel over the inside kerb at Turn 15 and has a harmless spin.
Checkered flag
The chequered flag is out after an intriguing FP1 topped by Verstappen, with Bottas ultimately taking second ahead of Hamilton.
Replays show Aitken having a big wobble at the long Turn 3 right-hander, as he has to back out over the run-off to the left of the track. Still though, he remains P17 ahead of his team-mate and the two Haas drivers. A fine effort.
Bottas runs wide on his latest effort at Turn 1, so it doesn't look like the Finn will be toppling Verstappen's time. He does, though, have the best sector three time of all - with Hamilton fastest through sector one, and Verstappen on top in sector two.
Just three minutes left then in Q1 - Verstappen currently leading Bottas and Hamilton after the seven-time champion lost a lap that was fractionally shy of Verstappen's best to track limits. Will we see any late changes?
Both Ferraris have now crept into the top 10, with Leclerc in eighth and Sainz ninth, continuing the Noah's Ark formation of recent races. Vettel is currently 10th, the midfield looking finely-poised between Gasly's P7 and Raikkonen in P13.
Tsunoda is another to have impressed in FP1 - he's currently the best of the rest in fifth, his best time so far just three tenths slower than Verstappen, a 1m25.378s.
Bottas is another to run deep into Turn 7, and is just able to gather it up and stay on-track, at a cost to a whack for his front wing against the raised kerb on corner exit.
Meanwhile, Hamilton has had a big moment entering Turn 7 at the end of the long back straight - from the on-board, it appears he locked the rears and went straight on, but is able to utilise the Yas Marina Circuit's plentiful run-off to gather it up.
Some sad news to report now, as it has emerged that four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Sr has died at the age of 82 after a battle with cancer. The 1970, 1971, 1978 and 1987 winner, he was also a three-time champion in Indy car racing.
Norris has a bit of a moment over the kerbs exiting Turn 9, and appears to have done some damage to his floor by grinding along the top of it.
By: Autosport Staff
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