#AbuDhabiGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen quickest ahead of @ValtteriBottas. #F1
Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, Free Practice 1, Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021, Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Image credit to Sutton Images. Verstappen Abu Dhabi GP FP1, Abu Dhabi GP FP1.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was quickest in FP1 at the Abu Dhabi GP ahead of Mercedes duo Valtteri Bottas and title-rival Lewis Hamilton as the drivers took to a modified Yas Marina Circuit.
World Driver’s Championship leader Verstappen showed promise on the final race weekend of the year finishing in-front of the Mercedes pairing in opening practice, lapping 0.196 seconds clear of the closest Silver Arrow.
Free Practice 1 saw drivers get a taste of a re-profiled Yas Marina Circuit with altered corners at the turn five hairpin, the sweeping left of turn nine and the turn 12-15 sequence under the hotel.
The majority spent the session using the C5 red side-walled softer compounds throughout it’s entirety, with Verstappen setting the early benchmark during the initial runs for Red Bull, despite reporting a steering wheel problem.
Verstappen told his team that his steering was “right-hand down” and “really annoying” to drive, but the Dutchman still managed to outpace Hamilton by two tenths during the opening stints.
Hamilton was able to improve on his initial hot-lap of his second run, sitting only 0.055 seconds adrift of Verstappen, only for the latter to pull 0.346 seconds with an effort of a 1:25.009.
Hamilton worked on another flying lap, but the Mercedes driver was 0.033 seconds off the leading Red Bull before his lap-time was invalidated for exceeding track limits at the last corner, where a number of drivers got caught out and their efforts deleted.
It meant that Bottas took second place, wounding up 0.196 seconds off Verstappen’s benchmark.
Hamilton was third, ahead of the other Honda-powered Red Bull RB16B entry of Sergio Perez.
Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly finished the session in fifth and seventh respectively, with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso sandwiched between the pairing in sixth place.
Despite taking nearly 20 minutes to register his first effort in opening practice, Charles Leclerc was eighth on the time-sheets for Ferrari and in-front of team-mate Carlos Sainz, who took ninth as the latter reported his SF21 racer felt “quite bad”, but was able to improve on his effort in the final stages.
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel completed the top ten and ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who just missed the wall at turn 14 in the early proceedings, got stuck in neutral, forcing the Frenchman to go slow on track and fix it before returning to normal speed, whilst McLaren’s Lando Norris was 12th..
Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen who competes in his final Grand Prix weekend after an illustrious career ended FP1 in 13th, in-front of team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi who was 14th, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who took 15th and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in a low 16th.
Williams Racing test driver Jack Aitken filled in for regular George Russell in opening practice to finish ahead of Nicholas Latifi and the Haas F1 Team pairing of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin who brought up the rear.
You can see the full Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 Free Practice 1 Results Classification by clicking here: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1107/abu-dhabi/practice-1.html
