Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W10 EQ Power+ in action during opening practice at the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019 (2019 Abu Dhabi GP), Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Image credit to LAT/Sutton Images.
Bottas tops Abu Dhabi GP FP1 as Vettel crashes.
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas topped FP1 at the Abu Dhabi GP ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel crashed and caused a session-ending red flag.
Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W10 EQ Power+ in action during opening practice at the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019 (2019 Abu Dhabi GP), Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Image credit to LAT/Sutton Images.
Bottas lead the field at the mid-point of the 90 minute session after switching to the C4 mediums, which elevated the Finn 0.6 seconds clear of Mercedes’ team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
It looked as though the order would change with the usual late session improvements, but with 30 minutes remaining, FP1 was interrupted for more than ten minutes following Daniel Ricciardo’s engine failure and when the session went back to green, drivers were forced to run off-line at the last corner.
Ricciardo was on a flyer but upon entry to the final corner, his R.S.19 racer shot-out a plume of fluid, two bursts of flames and shrapnel from the blown engine.
The Australian pulled off immediately at the run-off of the final corner but the recovery of his R.S.19 and treating of the circuit that had been covered by the Renault’s fluid brought out the stoppage.
Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly who had been just overtaken by Ricciardo before the latter’s failure, almost lost the rear of his STR14 racer, while Bottas took an excursion into the runoff as well.
Renault confirmed the engine had  “very high mileage engine from the start of season” that suffered the failure.
When FP1 resumed with a slippery surface warning at the last corner, none of the front-runners improved.
This meant Bottas lead Verstappen by 0.535 seconds with his Abu Dhabi GP FP1 benchmark of a 1:36.957 as the latter pipped Hamilton for second on a new set of C5 softs.
Hamilton had to return to pit-lane in the early stages after suffering a loss of power.
The issue was traced to a sensor problem on his F1 W10 EQ Power+ racer causing the engine into limp mode with the Briton returning to the track later on.
None of the Ferrari’s challenged at the front in opening practice as Vettel ended the session fifth behind Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon who was fourth and Charles Leclerc taking seventh.
Vettel was 1.949 seconds adrift of Bottas’ Abu Dhabi GP FP1 benchmark with the German’s session suffering a set-back when he lost the rear of his SF90 racer at turn 19 with two laps remaining.
The Ferrari spun and rolled backwards into the barrier on the outside, bringing out a second red flag and ending the 90 minute session early.
Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean split the Ferrari pairing in sixth, whilst team-mate Kevin Magnussen took eighth in a promising start for the Kannapolis-Banbury outfit.
Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Renault F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was 11th and in-front of Racing Point’s Lance Stroll who took 12th and Alfa Romeo Racing’s 13th-placed Kimi Raikkonen.
The other Racing Point RP19 of Sergio Perez was 14th and ahead of Toro Rosso duo Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly who were 15th and 16th respectively.
McLaren’s Carlos Sainz was a low 17th and 3.730 second off of Bottas Abu Dhabi FP1 benchmark and in-front of ROKiT Williams Racing’s Robert Kubica who ended opening practice 18th and the aforementioned Ricciardo who finished 19th.
ROKiT Williams Racing’s George Russell brought up the rear and a whooping 4.4 seconds adrift of Bottas’ Abu Dhabi GP FP1 benchmark despite the Briton having a serious pre-session health issue.
Russell however, completed 24 laps, the most of any driver in the field.
