Abu Dhabi GP Friday practice
By: Geoff Creighton
Summary
Status: Stopped
That's all for our coverage of Friday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix action. We'll leave you with our report from second practice, and hope to see you back here tomorrow from 9:45am UK time for coverage of final practice. Thanks for joining us.
Mercedes nicks ahead, then, in FP2. It's still pretty close between the top three teams on one-lap pace, and a couple of nifty laps at the end of his high-fuel run from Ricciardo suggest Red Bull might be in with a shot come Sunday.
The rest of the runners: 11 Massa; 12 Vandoorne; 13 Sainz; 14 Stroll; 15 Gasly; 16 Magnussen; 17 Wehrlein; 18 Ericsson; 19 Hartley; 20 Grosjean
Final top 10: 1 Hamilton; 2 Vettel; 3 Ricciardo; 4 Raikkonen; 5 Bottas; 6 Verstappen; 7 Perez; 8 Ocon; 9 Hulkenberg; 10 Alonso
Grosjean aside, Hamilton and Bottas are the only drivers back in the pits right now. Looks as though they might have headed for early baths.
Ricciardo's, on ultra-softs that had nine laps on them before his current 10-lap run, is hovering around the high 1m42s and low 1m43s.
Bottas is told to be aware that he'll pick up a "little bit more overheating with this tyre". He's switched from the ultra-soft to the super-soft.
Less than 20 minutes of the session remaining. Hartley pits and returns to the track on a pair of super-softs.
Moment for Hartley at Turn 1, who lost the rear, caught it and then lost it again and just avoids the barrier.
Couple of bits of AOB to bring you up to speed on in-session, including the news that Formula 1 is set to reveal a new logo during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend.
With all the performance runs done and dusted, here what's likely to be the top 10 for the remainder of the session: 1 Hamilton; 2 Vettel; 3 Ricciardo; 4 Raikkonen; 5 Bottas; 6 Verstappen; 7 Perez; 8 Ocon; 9 Hulkenberg; 10 Alonso
Grosjean is still in the garage with an electrical problem. Team boss Gunther Steiner isn't sure if he'll make it back out before the end of the session.
Performance runs dying down now. We've got 40 minutes of the session remaining, so expect focus to switch to race simulation runs pretty swiftly.
The Red Bulls have been a bit busier. Ricciardo goes up to third, 0.303s off the pace, and Verstappen has improved his best time (although he's still sixth).
Verstappen is four tenths off the pace in sector one on a new flying lap, and despite a personal best in sector two he can't improve on his time.
After his gesture to Grosjean, Ricciardo has improved. He's still fifth, but now just 0.009s shy of fourth place man Bottas. Verstappen is up to sixth.
Not the cleanest of Fridays for Grosjean, who loses his Haas through the final corner. He went off a couple of corners before that earlier in FP1.
With most of the first serious runs out of the way, the top 10 looks a little bit like this: 1 Hamilton; 2 Vettel; 3 Raikkonen; 4 Bottas; 5 Ricciardo; 6 Hulkenberg; 7 Alonso; 8 Vandoorne; 9 Verstappen; 10 Sainz
Replays show just how frustrated Ricciardo was with Grosjean. One hand wasn't on the steering wheel, that's all we'll say...
Ricciardo's first lap on ultra-softs is good enough for fifth, but he catches the Haas of Grosjean through the final corners and is 1.309s off the pace.
Hamilton brings us into the 1m37s! Vettel had gone fastest with a 1m38.026s, but Hamilton's time is 0.149s faster.
Trending
Latest news
Peugeot surprised by severity of WEC Balance of Performance hit
Imola
Peugeot surprised by severity of WEC Balance of Performance hit
Audi a player, not a spectator, in F1 driver market - Sauber
Audi a player, not a spectator, in F1 driver market - Sauber
Mercedes joins Williams and RB with 'quick and cheap' F1 cockpit airflow upgrades
Chinese GP
Mercedes joins Williams and RB with 'quick and cheap' F1 cockpit airflow upgrades
Latest videos
F1 Teams Concerns about the 2026 Regulations Changes
30:34
F1 Teams Concerns about the 2026 Regulations Changes
F1 2024 Chinese Grand Prix Preview – Everything You Need To Know
23:58
F1 2024 Chinese Grand Prix Preview – Everything You Need To Know
The 2025 F1 Calendar – Does it Make Sense?
19:45
The 2025 F1 Calendar – Does it Make Sense?
Top Comments