Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Max Verstappen takes the lead in Abu Dhabi

The first 20 minutes

For this final round of the championship, Pirelli brought the softest tires in its range with the C3, C4, and C5. On this first morning of free practice, George Russell gave up his seat to Jack Aitken, the reserve driver at Williams.

Welcome back @JaitkenRacer! 🙌

Good to see you in the car for FP1 with @WilliamsRacing ☺️#F1 🇦🇪 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/5d8qQaIM68

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 10, 2021

The drivers quickly took to the track to discover the new layout of Yas Marina. Indeed, after several months of work, several corners of the circuit have been modified to favor overtaking.

It’s looking bright and sunny in Abu Dhabi ☀️#F1 🇦🇪 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/LdrORD3LPT

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 10, 2021

The vast majority of drivers tried their hand at the exercise of testing with red tires, the softest brought this weekend. Right at the start of the session, many drivers saw their lap times cancelled, due to exceeding track limits (white lines this weekend).

With this new layout shortened by 273 meters, the track record was quickly broken. If it was 1:34.779 in the past, the mark was quickly lowered to 1:25.602 by Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver was ahead of Lewis Hamilton (+0.218) and Sergio Pérez (+0.392) all on red tires.

FP1 HALFWAY MARK!

Top 10:
Verstappen
Hamilton
Perez
Bottas (📸)
Gasly
Norris
Alonso
Tsunoda
Ocon
Vettel #F1 🇦🇪 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/0pux908C07

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 10, 2021

At midday

The first miss of the weekend will be attributed to the future retiree, Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn brought too much speed and found himself square in turn 9 without damaging his Alfa Romeo.

A bit of an off for Kimi 😬

But, the Finn keeps it going and returns to the track! #F1 🇦🇪 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/5RWfMdQEQ9

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 10, 2021

Always wearing their first sets of red rubber, Verstappen lowered the mark to 1:25.009 followed by Lewis Hamilton (+0.346), Sergio Pérez (+0.535) and Valtteri Bottas (+0.549). At the same time, Yuki Tsunoda 5th and Pierre Gasly 6th placed their AlphaTauri among the best of the rest. Sebastian Vettel 7th, Lando Norris 8th, Esteban Ocon 9th and Fernando Alonso 10th completed the top 10.

No caption needed 😉

ft. @alo_oficial #F1 🇦🇪 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/OQk2AUOMhP

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 10, 2021

The last 20 minutes

It seems that Red Bull has brought a new front wing specification, the Austrian team will have improved its car until the last Grand Prix of the season, trying by all means to win the driver and constructor titles.

The last dance for the RB16B 🔥😍 #AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/tasMYwoNjS

— Red Bull Racing Honda (@redbullracing) December 10, 2021

After an hour of session, Max Verstappen sets the fastest time 1:25.009 ahead of Valtteri Bottas (+0.196) and Lewis Hamilton (+0.346).

Timing ranking