Charles Leclerc topped the first practice for the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as six rookie drivers took part in the session.
Leclerc did well to come back from a battery issue and joined the action halfway through the session but managed to go fastest of all.
And while FP1 in Abu Dhabi is not a good indication of the actual pecking order as qualifying and the race take place later in the day, it was a signal of Ferrari's form as they enter this weekend challenging McLaren for the 2024 Formula 1 constructors' championship.
The bad news is that Leclerc will have a ten-place grid penalty in the race for having his battery replaced.
Leclerc made history as his brother Arthur joined him on track in the other Ferrari, a first in the sport's history. Arthur finished the session 18th fastest.
Lando Norris was second fastest in the McLaren as Ryo Hirakawa was 14th in the other car as Oscar Piastri watched from sidelines.
Lewis Hamilton was third fastest ahead of teammate George Russell who was fourth in the sister Mercedes.
Pierre Gasly was fifth fastest in the Alpine, the Frenchman still showing strong form and will be having a new teammate this weekend as Jack Doohan replaced Esteban Ocon.
The Australian was 19th fastest in the other pink car.
Nico Hulkenberg was sixth fastest on the Haas ahead of Franco Colapinto who was seventh fastest in the Williams as Alex Albon sat the session out and was replaced by Williams young driver program member Luke Browning who ended the session last.
Kevin Magnussen was eighth fastest in the Haas ahead of Felipe Drugovich who replaced Lance Stroll at Aston Martin and was ninth fastest. Fernando Alonso was 11th.
Sergio Perez was tenth as Max Verstappen took a break and watched Isack Hadjar who was 15th fastest in the sister Red Bull.
The final rookie, Ayumu Iwasa, who replaced Yuki Tsunoda in the VCARB was 17th fastest.
Buildup towards FP1
And so, the end is near. F1's longest season to date will reach its conclusion this weekend at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The drivers' championship is done and there may be a fight between Leclerc and Norris on the runner up position, but do we really care about the first of the losers?
There is still the F1 constructors' championship at stake with McLaren and Ferrari fighting for it, the former holding the advantage and will most probably win it unless they mess up their weekend big time.
As the teams look to finish their young driver session allocation, FP1 will be the session of the rookies, six to be precise:
- Arthur Leclerc replacing Carlos Sainz at Ferrari.
- Felipe Drugovich replacing Stroll at Aston Martin.
- Isack Hadjar replacing Verstappen at Red Bull Racing.
- Ryo Hirakawa replacing Piastri at McLaren.
- Ayumu Iwasa replacing Tsunoda at VCARB.
- Luke Browning replacing Albon at Williams.
After the early divorce between Alpine and Ocon, Doohan made an early debut for his full time F1 career.
FP1 will also kick off the final weekend for various drivers; Sainz's final Ferrari weekend, Hamilton's final Mercedes weekend, Magnussen's and Hulkenberg's final Haas weekends, Zhou's and Bottas' final Sauber weekends, and maybe Perez's final Red Bull weekend...
As for racing, tyres in particular, Pirelli have brought their softest range this weekend: C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), and C5 (Soft)
In terms of car upgrades only VCARB have brought a revised front wing while Sauber have a new floor body and a rear brake duct with a revised position.
FP1 Session Highlights
The session started in glorious sunny conditions with track temperature registering 42 degrees Celsius while air temperature was at 28 degrees.
The cars queued up t the end of the pitlane with Alonso getting out first with aero rakes fixed on his car, the same applying Iwasa in the VCARB. McLaren and Ferrari did the same with Hirakawa and Arthur Leclerc respectively.
Soon Hadjar complained about wheel clearance reporting that he was struggling as the steering wheel was hitting his legs.
That caused the Red Bull rookie to spin at Turn 7. He radioed: "I have zero efficiency, sorry."
In the meantime, Charles Leclerc remained in the garage, his Ferrari up on stands with the floor off and the mechanics hovering around the rear of the car.
Browning then reported in the Williams: "I locked the rears on entry."
Hamilton and Norris had an impeding incident on track which was noted by the stewards.
With 20 minutes elapsed, Charles Leclerc was yet to join the track as Ferrari mechanics continued to work on his SF-24 fixing what was reportedly a battery issue.
The #16 SF-24 was fired up with less the 40 minutes remaining as the mechanics started the final assembly of the car.
As the session reached the halfway mark, it was Hamilton leading the timings with Russell in second and Norris third in the McLaren.
And finally, and with a little under 30 minutes remaining, Leclerc, Charles that is made his way out on track to join his brother.
Hadjar soon had an issue with Browning in the Williams on track and reported: "Man, the Williams destroyed me in the chicane. Didn't know what he was doing."
Russell complained about his brakes claiming he was not feeling the normal deceleration with them.
Again, Hadjar had another moment, with Browning again, and was over the radio saying: "What the ***** man, I had to back off in the final corner!"
This time, Browning was given a black and white flag. One more slip and it would be a black flag.
Gasly was soon noted for failing to slow down under the Yellow flags, but there was no further investigation required.
In the final five minutes, Zhou in the Sauber was complaining about understeer in his car.
The session was concluded with practice starts.
How they finished
Charles Leclerc finished the session fastest, posting a lap time of 1:24.321, 0.221s clear of Norris in second and 0.485s faster than Hamilton in third.
Russell was fourth, 0.359s behind his teammate and 0.168s ahead of Gasly who was fifth in the Alpine.
Hulkenberg was sixth in the Haas, 1.052s off the pace, and 0.009s ahead of Colapinto who was seventh fastest.
Magnussen was eighth with a lap time of 1.25.444, 0.027s ahead of Drugovich, ninth in the Aston Martin while Perez was 1.162s off the pace in tenth.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix FP1 Classification
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