Abu Dhabi GP FP1: Norris from Verstappen as youngsters take over
F1 NewsFriday, 05 December 2025 at 11:33
Lando Norris topped the first practice session for the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with Max Verstappen second fastest as nine young drivers took part in the unrepresentative session.
However, there was nothing to choose between Norris and Verstappen as the Briton posted a 1:24.485 session-topping lap time which was only 0.008s clear of his Red Bull rival.
Charles Leclerc was third fastest in the Ferrari, 0.016s off the pace but he later complained about his long runs and that he was very slow with zero grip. His engineers concurred delivering the numbers that confirmed the Monegasque's feelings.
We will have to wait until FP2, though, until we find out more about the pecking order as nine regular drivers, most importantly, Oscar Piastri, sat out the session, making way for young drivers.
There is also the fact that the conditions of FP1 are different from those in Qualifying and the Grand Prix which run later in the day starting at dusk and ending in nighttime.
Kimi Antonelli finished the session in fourth, 0.123s off Norris' time while Nico Hulkenberg was fifth fastest in the Sauber.
George Russell was sixth ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto in seventh as Ollie Bearman, who struggled with hydraulic issues throughout the session, was eighth in the Haas.
Carlos Sainz was ninth as Franco Colapinto was tenth.
As for the youngsters, Ryo Hirakawa was 11th fastest in the Haas as Paul Aron was 13th in the Alpine as Pato O'Ward was 14th in the McLaren as Arvid Lindblad was 15th in the Red Bull.
Arthur Leclerc was 16th in the Ferrari, Ayumu Iwasa was 17th in the Racing Bulls, Luke Browning was 18th in the Williams, Jak Crawford and Cian Shields were 19th and 20th respectively in the Aston Martins.
Buildup towards FP1
Here we are on the verge of starting he 24th and final Formula 1 weekend of the 2025 season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which is shaping up to be quite an exciting finale as Norris, Piastri, and Verstappen are in contention to win the Drivers' Championship.
While Norris has the points' advantage, Verstappen has proven that he is in the head of his rival as well as McLaren and will not be giving them a chance to breathe this weekend.
The Dutchman will need Norris and McLaren to drop the ball a bit in order to overcome his 12-point deficit, but as we have seen before in F1 history, bigger gaps have been overcome with Sebastian Vettel in 2010 springing to mind.
Which Red Bull RB21 will Verstappen have this weekend at his disposal? The bouncy one or the fast one? At least he will have three practice sessions to set it up properly before qualifying.
Norris on the other hand needs to deliver a clean weekend which also applies to McLaren who cannot afford any horsing around with their execution as they also need to manage to drivers fighting for the Title with Piastri apparently not throwing in the towel.
As for Pirelli, in the final race of the season, have brought the softer range of their compounds: C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), and the C5 (Soft).
Despite being the season finale, and with much at stake, FP1 will feature a considerable amount of rookies with the most critical situation being at McLaren as O'Ward will take over Piastri's MCL39.
Racing Bulls' 2026 rookie, Lindblad, will drive for Red Bull, but he will replace the outgoing Yuki Tsunoda who will be reserve next year.
As for the others, Charles Leclerc will have his younger brother Arthur in the other car and Lewis Hamilton sits out FP1.
Alex Albon will hand over his Williams to Browning as Iwasa replaces Liam Lawson at the Racing Bulls while Hirakawa takes the place of Esteban Ocon in the Haas.
Both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will sit out FP1 as Crawford and Shields will drive for Aston Martin in the first 60-minutes of running, while Aron replaces Pierre Gasly at Alpine.
FP1 Session Highlights
The session started in dry yet cloudy conditions with track temperatures at 35 degrees Celsius as air temperature was 28 degrees.
With only five minutes gone, all 20 drivers have already been out on track as tyre choices varied from Softs to Mediums, to Hards.
McLaren, for example sent O'Ward out on Softs, a smart choice to give him the most grip possible so he doesn't bin Piastri's car.
Norris has some Flow Vis on the rear wing of his MCL39 early on.
Soon both Alpines, Colapinto and Aron had moments in the final corner, as the car snapped. The first was on Mediums, the second on Hards.
Soon, Sainz reported that he couldn't push the braking in Sector 1 and when his engineer asked why; he responded: "You know why..."
The drivers went on with their business putting in the laps and laying down the rubber with times improving and grip building up, with nothing eventful happening.
Almost 20 minutes into the session Bearman reported that he lost power. His engineer informed him there was a hydraulic leak. He limped back to the Haas garage.
The Haas mechanics immediately started work on Bearman's and started taking it apart. Hirakawa, in the other Haas, reported an annoying bouncing in Turns 6 & 7.
25 minutes in the session, Verstappen bolted on a set of Soft tyres and went for a qualifying run, only the second driver aside from O'Ward. Russell followed suit. Verstappen went fastest, Russell second fastest.
Norris had to back off his first flying lap on Softs after an error in Turn 2 as his car snapped, and went for a cool down lap before going second fastest behind Verstappen.
Both Astons had a moment as Crawford ended up in the way of Shields, the former not happy that his engineer didn't let him know.
Bearman, who was released back on track, was soon called back in and informed that the same issue has occurred again - 22 minutes from the end.
He came back in and then returned to the track only to report that the problem was still there.
O'Ward, now on Mediums, locked up and ran wide in Turn 1 but was rescued by the run-off area.
The final 15 minutes saw the teams fueling their cars up and sending their drivers out on harder compounds for some long runs and data collection.
Verstappen said he had something "broken" on the car and reported he was struggling with it everywhere.
Leclerc, Charles that it, lost the rear of his car into Turn 5, spun, and ended up in the run-off. Browning locked up and ran wide at Turn 1 in the Williams.
Norris, towards the end, ran wide at Turn 1, as the session was concluded with practice starts.
Abu Dhabi GP FP1 Classification
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