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Live: F1 Abu Dhabi GP commentary and updates – FP1 & FP2

Follow minute-by-minute updates on Friday practice at the Formula 1's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

F1’s season finale is here, as the paddock descends on the Yas Marina circuit for the Abu Dhabi GP.

Fresh from a dramatic Brazilian GP, where George Russell led a Mercedes 1-2 in the team’s first win of the season and his maiden F1 victory, all eyes will again be on Red Bull following the team orders row that erupted at Interlagos.

Friday’s action sees the standard pair of practice sessions, with a number of rookie drivers on show in FP1.

By: James Newbold, Lewis Duncan, Jake Boxall-Legge, Haydn Cobb

Summary

Summary
  • Verstappen tops Friday practice at the Abu Dhabi GP, 0.3s quicker than Russell in FP2
  • Hamilton led Mercedes 1-2 in first practice
Leaderboard
  1. Verstappen, Red Bull
  2. Russell, Mercedes
  3. Leclerc, Ferrari
  4. Hamilton, Mercedes
  5. Perez, Red Bull
  6. Sainz, Ferrari
  7. Ocon, Alpine
  8. Alonso, Alpine
  9. Ricciardo, McLaren
  10. Bottas, Alfa Romeo
Status: Stopped
And that's all from us today, we're off to scout for some lunch. Thanks for joining us, and see you tomorrow!
Here's the report from FP2 - the last of the season - at Abu Dhabi: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-abu-dhabi-gp-verstappen-heads-russell-in-fp2/10401724/
 
Here's the end of FP2, and Verstappen ends the session top - ahead of Russell, Leclerc and Hamilton.
Leclerc's pace around that time was in the mid 1m31s, which was a lick slower than the Mercedes duo. Verstappen's in the high 1m30s, for reference.
Hamilton gets a bit of overtaking practice in with a big DRS run on Zhou into Turn 9. Meanwhile, Leclerc asks "why am I slow?" on his race runs - and the reply is that "our pace is not great". Ferrari isn't exactly optimistic...
Ricciardo's pitted with a suspected oil leak, as his McLaren was puffing a little bit of smoke. Norris, meanwhile, has come in for a change of tyres.
"Derates are massive at the moment," Russell reports. That's him not happy with the energy harvesting maps, so Mercedes might need to fiddle with some software.
After a brief lull in proceedings after the initial flurry of qualifying runs, the majority of the field is back out - and it looks like race run time for the final 15 or so minutes.
Verstappen does a 1m25.146s to extend his margin at the top of the timesheets. He's three tenths up on Russell as it stands.
Alonso has put his car into the top 10 now, going eighth behind team-mate Ocon. This is the Spanish driver's last FP2 session for Alpine, and it's going...okay.
"Apologies for the traffic," Riccardo Musconi says to Russell. "No problemo, as long as it's not there tomorrow," comes a calm reply.
That's second for Russell, a 1m25.487s - just 0.1s behind Verstappen's headline time. Hamilton then puts his Mercedes fourth after setting the best first-sector time of the session.
Zhou's displaced Hamilton from the top 10 with his latest lap, but the Mercedes driver is starting to go quite quickly. Russell's on a quick one too...
It's Verstappen, Leclerc, Perez, Ocon, Sainz, Bottas, Russell, Norris, Vettel and Hamilton completing the upper half of the field so far, as Vettel's aforementioned lap got him into ninth.
We've got the two Aston Martins on soft-tyre laps - and once they're done, we'll have a half-hour top 10 order...
"What's this patch in our pit box? There's a slippery patch," Ricciardo reports. He's not happy with a slightly shiny bit there as he pulls in to pit.
Perez briefly moved up to second, but has been displaced by Leclerc once more. Ocon returns to the upper end of the timing board, slotting his car into fourth.
Albon goes eighth on the softs, before Bottas fires his Alfa Romeo up to third on the quickest compound.
Lots more takers for the soft now, as Latifi peppers the timing board with a few purple sectors - but goes 10th. Schumacher, meanwhile, wants Haas to take a look at the floor.
Verstappen was the only man to get any soft running in, but Latifi's now come out on the red-walled compound to have a dip at a quick lap.
Russell returns to third, displacing Ocon from the top three with a 1m26.321s. He's three tenths behind Leclerc as it stands.
"My brake pedal is very bad," Verstappen reports over the radio. Chances are he'll have to report to the pits so that Red Bull can put a stop to that.
There's a 1m25.449s for Verstappen, on the soft tyres, to go P1.
Hamilton got baulked by Magnussen through Turns 6 and 7, and the Briton gives the universal "what was that?" gesture but, on the next lap, posts a 1m26.791s to go P7.
After the opening 15 minutes, it's Leclerc, Ocon, Sainz, Verstappen, Russell, Perez, Gasly, Tsunoda, Zhou and Bottas.
That's a little more like it from Verstappen, who drops a 1m26.395s to go third fastest - although Carlos Sainz displaces him moments later. Russell dropped behind the Red Bull duo, but has got between them now with fifth.
Brazil winner Russell sets a 1m26.852s to go third, three tenths clear of Verstappen. Hamilton is still yet to emerge from the pits.
Ricciardo says that he "nearly lost it in [Turn] 3", and suggests a change might be useful. He immediately retreats to the pits, without a representative time on the board.
Leclerc now fires in a 1m26.045s on the mediium, going top, as Ocon goes P2 on the same compound.
Vettel kicks us off with a 1m28.120s in his final F1 FP2 appearance, although Bottas betters that with a 1m27.717s.
Plenty of takers in the first minute of the session - just the Mercedes duo is yet to emerge through the pitlane tunnel.
And here's the green flag! FP2 is away.
Just to be clear, this is the feed for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix practice. For the show about an ex-Arsenal midfielder's makeover show for pensioners, you want Abou Diaby's Gran Preen.
The seven drivers who vacated their cars in FP1 - Verstappen, Norris, Sainz, Latifi, Zhou, Stroll and Alonso - will be back in the saddle for this session.
As the sun sets on Abu Dhabi, the track's going to cool down and the conditions should be much more favourable for the cars to perform. It'll still be quite warm, but not tyre-meltingly hot.
And we're back! Hello everyone, and welcome to what may be the only representative practice session of the weekend. You may want to watch FP2 like a hawk.
That's all from us on the live blog for now. Make sure to check out Autosport.com for a full report from F2 qualifying, and we'll be back with you later ahead of FP2 at 13:00 UK time. See you then.
Here is the full report then from FP1, which featured eight different stand-in drivers all clamouring to make a good impression. But it was Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes who ended the session on top: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-abu-dhabi-gp-fp1-report-hamilton-mercedes/10401579/
Spare a thought for the F2 drivers who now need to qualify recalibrate their brains ahead of qualifying, which commences in around 20 minutes.

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