George Russell topped the first practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix while Felipe Drugovich was the fastest rookie finishing second fastest.
The session saw ten rookie drivers taking part, with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez both sitting out, handing their RB19s over to Jakes Dennis and Isack Hadjar. Hamilton and Leclerc did not take part in FP1.
Russell was the fastest driver out there at the end of FP1, with Drugovich impressively placing the Aston Martin in second place. Lance Stroll was fifth in the Aston Martin...
Daniel Ricciardo was third fastest in the AlphaTauri, which were the only team who did not run any rookies this session.
It was an impressive session from the rookies who kept it clean for the whole 60 minutes of running, only a minor offs here and there but nothing serious.
Buildup towards FP1
Here we are, the final race of the 2023 Formula 1 season, a long one as well, and with both Championships already wrapped up by Max Verstappen and Red Bull, the season finale in Abu Dhabi will somehow be like a chilled out send-off for the concluded season.
Of course there are some fights for second, third, and fourth places, but does anyone really care? Will Ferrari beat Mercedes to second in the Constructors' Standings, will McLaren secure fourth from Aston Martin?
Verstappen will want to win his 19th race this season, his bag his 54th career win and break free from Sebastian Vettel in the all time winners' chart.
Sergio Perez will be more relaxed this time in Abu Dhabi, runner up already in the bag, unlike how things were in 2022.
We also bid farewell to one of our sport's prominent figures, Franz Tost who will lead the AlphaTauri pit wall for the last time in Abu Dhabi.
FP1 will feature ten young guns driving as part of the two-session requirement for teams to give a young driver some seat time mandated by the rules.
Surprisingly, neither Verstappen, nor Perez will be driving in FP1, as Red Bull will give their two cars for 2023 Formula E Champion Jake Dennis and Formula 2 driver Isack Hadjar to drive.
Frederik Vesti will replace Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes, while Charles Leclerc will give way to Robert Shwartzman in the Ferrari.
Jack Doohan takes over Esteban Ocon's car at Alpine, with Pato O'Ward replacing Lando Norris at McLaren, the former also confirmed as the team's reserve for 2024.
Oliver Bearman will have Nico Hulkenberg's Haas to drive in FP1, as Theo Pourchaire gets in the Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu.
Drugovich will be in Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin AMR23, while Formula 3 2023 season runner up
Zak O’Sullivan drives Alex Albon's Williams.
Zak O’Sullivan drives Alex Albon's Williams.
Tyre-wise, Pirelli has the softest range available this weekend: C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium) and C5 (Soft).
Abu Dhabi FP1 session highlights
In terms of upgrades, not many. Alfa Romeo has a new front wing and a new front wing end-plate. AlphaTauri has a new floor body, floor fences, and floor edge.
Aston Martin have a new beam wing, a rear wing and a new rear wing endplate.
No low temperatures this weekend like the ones we had in Las Vegas, as the track temperature at the start of the session was 42 degrees Celsius, while the ambient temperature was 28 degrees.
Stroll lead the drivers out on track, while Dennis soon radios the team informing them of issues with his helmet. He said: "I need to box this lap, my helmet is nowhere near tight enough."
This is a session Verstappen won't be topping as he is watching from the pit wall. Look how bored Max looks.
15 minutes into the session, O'Ward suffers a snap of oversteer in the McLaren coming out of the final corner, but keeps the car pointing in the right direction.
Russell, top of the screens at the moment, reported that he is not happy with his steering, he said: "Something doesn't feel quite right with the steering. I'm having to turn so much on the apex at low speed, but more than when we've ever tested this before."
But then he then improves his time at the top.
All the cars except the two Ferraris who were on Soft tyres, were using the Medium tyres with almost half the session's time gone.
Pourchaire reported "crazy bottoming in Turns 2 and 3 and that he almost lost the car there. Luckily he didn't.
Doohan has a scary moment with Williams' Logan Sargeant in Turn 16, the former on a flying lap with the latter driving in the racing line in a leisurely pace. The incident would be investigates after the session.
"Almost had the biggest accident of my life!" Doohan reacted over the team radio.
O’Sullivan in the Williams soon has a big moment in the final corner, as he lost his Williams to oversteer, but managed to save it.
Stroll also soon had a big snap of oversteer in Turn 16. He was caught out by tail wind. His car stays in one piece though.
Carlos Sainz on a flying lap on new Soft tyres, also lost the back of his SF-23 in the final corner, while Shwartzman report a snap in Turn 3, having bottomed as well.
In the final five minutes, the first Yellow flag came out on the third sector, which was due to Hadjar going too slow. While Russell complains about a very slow Ferrari in the middle of the straights.
Oscar Piastri also soon complained about a "classic Carlos" Sainz who he claimed was sitting in the middle of the track, dangerously and not making an effort to move out of the way.
Hadjar also had to get into the run-off area to avoid a slow Stroll on the racing line at Turn
Practice starts followed, at the end of the session.
How they finished
Russell posted the fastest time of the session, a 1:26.072, 0.288s faster than the impressive Drugovich who was second fastest.
Ricciardo was third fastest, 0.361s off Russell's time and 0.020s ahead of Valtteri Bottas, fourth fastest in the Alfa Romeo.
Stroll was fifth fastest, 0.271s slower than Drugovich, and 0.034s faster than Piastri who was sixth fastest in the McLaren.
Sainz was seventh fastest in the Ferrari, 0.604s off the pace and only 0.027s ahead of Shwartzman in the other Ferrari. A decent job by the rookie to go eighth fastest.
Pierre Gasly was ninth fastest ahead of Yuki Tsunoda who was tenth.
FP1 Results
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