Practice report

F1 Abu Dhabi GP: Leclerc leads Norris in opening practice

Leclerc ends first practice on top despite missing the opening half of the session

Charles Leclerc was fastest in Formula 1's final FP1 session of 2024 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, two tenths clear of McLaren's Lando Norris.

Ferrari driver Leclerc was stranded in the garage for the opening 25 minutes of the session with a battery issue, but immediately picked up the pace when he got out on track.

After getting a few laps on the board, he took aim at Norris' then-benchmark of a 1m24.542s, and set a 1m24.321s on the soft tyres to vault to the top of the leaderboard.

The opening session of the Yas Marina round featured multiple reserve and young drivers as the teams fulfilled the requirements for running inexperienced drivers before the season was out - including Leclerc's brother Arthur, who took over Carlos Sainz's Ferrari seat for the FP1 session.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was third quickest, having been on top of the order at the conclusion of the medium-tyre runs during the opening half-hour of the session, ahead of team-mate George Russell.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly continued his impressive form and claimed the fifth-fastest time, 0.04s clear of Nico Hulkenberg's Haas. The two Haas drivers, who leave the team at the end of the season, were split by Franco Colapinto in seventh as Kevin Magnussen ended up eighth.

Felipe Drugovich was the highest-placed rookie in the session, setting a time on softs just moments behind Fernando Alonso to go 0.033s faster than his illustrious Aston Martin stablemate. Sergio Perez was between them in 10th in the lead Red Bull.

Liam Lawson (RB) and Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) were ahead of McLaren's Ryo Hirakawa, who spent most of the session conducting aero work before getting a chance on soft tyres later into the run-time. The Toyota World Endurance Championship driver will also drive for Haas in the post-weekend Yas Marina test.

F2 title contender Isack Hadjar, driving Max Verstappen's Red Bull, was 15th fastest. The Frenchman was a consistent presence on the radio having become frustrated by F3 champion Luke Browning being ahead of him on two occasions.

Hadjar was just half a tenth up on Zhou Guanyu, who struggled throughout the session with understeer in the slower corners.

Ayumu Iwasa (RB) and Arthur Leclerc (Ferrari) were two tenths down on Zhou, while Alpine's new driver Jack Doohan and Williams' Browning completed the order.

Abu Dhabi GP - FP1 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	19	1'24.321		225.466
2	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	25	+0.221 1'24.542	0.221	224.877
3	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	27	+0.485 1'24.806	0.264	224.177
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	27	+0.844 1'25.165	0.359	223.232
5	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	24	+1.012 1'25.333	0.168	222.793
6	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	23	+1.052 1'25.373	0.040	222.688
7	F. Colapinto Williams	43	Williams	Mercedes	24	+1.061 1'25.382	0.009	222.665
8	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	Haas	Ferrari	25	+1.123 1'25.444	0.062	222.503
9	F. Drugovich Aston Martin Racing	34	Aston Martin	Mercedes	22	+1.150 1'25.471	0.027	222.433
10	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	26	+1.162 1'25.483	0.012	222.402
11	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	23	+1.183 1'25.504	0.021	222.347
12	L. Lawson RB	30	RB	Red Bull	27	+1.242 1'25.563	0.059	222.194
13	V. Bottas Sauber	77	Sauber	Ferrari	23	+1.290 1'25.611	0.048	222.069
14	R. Hirakawa McLaren	28	McLaren	Mercedes	19	+1.553 1'25.874	0.263	221.389
15	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	37	Red Bull	Honda	22	+1.556 1'25.877	0.003	221.381
16	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	Sauber	Ferrari	23	+1.600 1'25.921	0.044	221.268
17	A. Iwasa RB	40	RB	Honda	24	+1.800 1'26.121	0.200	220.754
18	A. Leclerc Ferrari	39	Ferrari	Ferrari	22	+1.858 1'26.179	0.058	220.605
19	J. Doohan Alpine	61	Alpine	Renault	24	+1.983 1'26.304	0.125	220.286
20	L. Browning Williams	46	Williams	Mercedes	22	+2.198 1'26.519	0.215	219.739
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