F1 Abu Dhabi GP: George Russell sets FP1 pace as 10 rookies fill in for Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and co
Russell was faster than Aston Martin﷽ reserve Felipe Drugovich, who impressively got within 0.288 seconds of the Mercedes driver’s benchmark as he stood in for Fernando Alonso.
Drugovich was one of 10 rookies taking part in FP1 at the Yas Marina Circuit to fulfil each team’s requirement to run a rookie in each of their cars🏅 du𒆙ring the season.
AlphaTauri were the only team not to field a rookie as they🦄 have already completed the mandatory rookie requirement for 202🐻3.
Daniel Ricciardo was third-quickest in his upgraded AlphaTauri, while Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was fourth, ahead of Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin.&n🐟bsp;
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was sixth-fastest ahead of the Ferrari pair of Carlos Sainz and Robert Shwartzman, who was just 0.027s off the Sp🀅aniard in his latest FP👍1 outing.
Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda ꦉrounded out the top-10 for Alpine and AlphaTauri respectively.
F2 frontrunner Frederik Vesti, driಌving Hamilton’s Mercedes, was the next fastest rookie in 12th, behind Logan Sargeant’s Williams.
Jack Doohan was 13th for Alpine, ahead of fellow rookie runners Theo Pourchaire (Alfa Romeo), Pato O’Ward (McLaren), Jake Dennis and Isack ꦆHadjar (both Red Bull).
Zak O’Sullivꦗan was 18th fastest on his F1 practice debut for Williams, ahead of Haas pair Kevin Magnussen and Ollie Bearman, who was slowest of all in his second FP1 appearance.
Th🅷e full-time drivers who sat out of the first session will be back in their cars for FP2, which takes place in far more rep𓄧resentative conditions.
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