F1 results: Verstappen fastest in Abu Dhabi GP practice

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

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

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.