F1 Grand Prix practice results: Hamilton fastest in Abu Dhabi

His title rival Max Verstappen of Red Bull was quickest in FP1 but Hamilton set the fastest time of the day in FP2 at 1m23.691s.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix FP1 results: Verstappen fastest from Bottas

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	23	1'25.009			235.203
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	27	1'25.205	0.196	0.196	234.662
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	25	1'25.355	0.346	0.150	234.249
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	24	1'25.363	0.354	0.008	234.227
5	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	23	1'25.378	0.369	0.015	234.186
6	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	26	1'25.625	0.616	0.247	233.511
7	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	28	1'25.822	0.813	0.197	232.975
8	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	20	1'25.846	0.837	0.024	232.910
9	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	26	1'25.886	0.877	0.040	232.801
10	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	26	1'26.007	0.998	0.121	232.474
11	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	25	1'26.025	1.016	0.018	232.425
12	Lando Norris	McLaren	26	1'26.123	1.114	0.098	232.160
13	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	25	1'26.189	1.180	0.066	231.983
14	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	25	1'26.409	1.400	0.220	231.392
15	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	26	1'26.608	1.599	0.199	230.860
16	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	29	1'26.676	1.667	0.068	230.679
17	Jack Aitken	Williams	27	1'27.481	2.472	0.805	228.557
18	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	27	1'27.487	2.478	0.006	228.541
19	Mick Schumacher	Haas	24	1'27.698	2.689	0.211	227.991
20	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	22	1'28.305	3.296	0.607	226.424
View full results

What happened in Free Practice 1?

First practice took place in daytime, meaning it was not fully representative of either qualifying or the race, both of which will occur in cooler conditions of the early evening.

Verstappen set the early pace on soft tyres at 1m26.463s before Hamilton topped it by a tenth and a half with 1m23.290s.

Verstappen stayed out and dipped under the 1m26s barrier with a 1m25.602s, while Hamilton got to within 0.218s in P2. Verstappen then went even faster, producing 1m25.300s after 20 minutes of the session, with Hamilton working down to within a quarter of a second.

Hamilton ran again on new softs, improving to 1m25.355s – 0.055s off Verstappen at that point – but Max unleashed 1m25.009s on his second run, which remained the quickest time of the session.

Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) improved to 1m25.205s to take second from Hamilton, who was 0.346s off Verstappen – but Lewis did set the fastest first and third sectors overall with a lap that was deleted for exceeding track limits.

Sergio Perez was just behind Hamilton in fourth, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri).

Read Also:

• Abu Dhabi GP: Verstappen outpaces Mercedes duo in FP1

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix FP2 results: Hamilton fastest from Ocon

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	26	1'23.691			238.907
2	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	29	1'24.034	0.343	0.343	237.932
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	29	1'24.083	0.392	0.049	237.793
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	25	1'24.332	0.641	0.249	237.091
5	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	26	1'24.400	0.709	0.068	236.900
6	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	27	1'24.495	0.804	0.095	236.634
7	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	26	1'24.532	0.841	0.037	236.530
8	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	29	1'24.557	0.866	0.025	236.460
9	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	29	1'24.844	1.153	0.287	235.660
10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	27	1'24.940	1.249	0.096	235.394
11	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	26	1'24.959	1.268	0.019	235.341
12	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	27	1'25.108	1.417	0.149	234.929
13	Lando Norris	McLaren	27	1'25.153	1.462	0.045	234.805
14	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	27	1'25.195	1.504	0.042	234.689
15	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	26	1'25.385	1.694	0.190	234.167
16	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	23	1'25.440	1.749	0.055	234.016
17	George Russell	Williams	29	1'25.549	1.858	0.109	233.718
18	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	22	1'25.687	1.996	0.138	233.342
19	Mick Schumacher	Haas	27	1'25.784	2.093	0.097	233.078
20	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	26	1'26.336	2.645	0.552	231.588
View full results

What happened in Free Practice 2?

As the sun began to set at the start of FP2, Hamilton set the early medium-tyred pace at 1m25.127s. Verstappen almost matched his time, but had it deleted for track limits. Max ran again and was 0.122s off Hamilton’s pace, until Lewis reset the bar at 1m24.126s – putting him almost a second clear.

Bottas hit the Turn 14 wall with his right-rear wheel, while Nicholas Latifi damaged the rear wing of his Williams during a spin at Turn 13. Following his wall clip, and a stop to check for damage, Bottas ran again – this time on soft tyres – and set a new P1 time of 1m24.083s.

Surprisingly, neither Hamilton (1m24.104s) nor Verstappen (1m24.332s) beat that on their first soft-tyred laps. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon then delivered an impressive 1m24.034s to top the session by 0.049s.

After multiple cool-down laps, Hamilton unleashed a lap of 1m23.691s – 0.641s clear of title rival Verstappen, who ended the session down in fourth behind Ocon and Bottas.

Perez was fifth quickest, ahead of Alonso and Tsunoda.

Just as the chequered flag flew, Kimi Raikkonen shunted at Turn 14, damaging three corners of his Alfa Romeo in his final F1 weekend.

Read Also:

• Abu Dhabi GP: Hamilton fastest from Ocon in second practice