Max Verstappen fastest in opening practice at Abu Dhabi F1 finale
The Red Bull driver posted a 1m25.009s around the revised Yas Marina Circuit to head Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas by 0.196s at the top of the timesheets, while championship rival Hamilton w🔜as third-quickest.
Hamilton had managed to get within 0.033s of Verstappen’s benchmark 💎but had his best lap time deleted for track limits at the final corner, leaving him 0.346s adrift of the Dutchman.
Both drivers head into the last round o🐬f the season level on points, setting up a tantalising winner-takes-all contest in the Abu Dhabi finale.
Verstappen’s Red Bull t🐬eammate Sergio Perez pipped Yuki Tsunoda to the fourth-fastest time, with the AlphaTauri racer completing the top five.
Fernando Alonso briefl🦂y topped FP1 but eventually slipped back to sixt📖h for Alpine, ahead of Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri.
Next up came the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and♎ Carlos Sainz in eighth and ninth, while Sebastian Vettel rounded out top-10 for Aston Martin, just under a second off the pace.
The four-time world champion saved a b✤ig🥃 spin coming out of the hotel section in the closing moments of FP1.
Standing in for Williams regular G🍸eorge Russell during the final first practice session of the season, Jack Aitken outpaced Nicholas L🍬atifi by just 0.006s.
FP2 will take place in more representative conditions under the lights that wi🅘ll be replicated in qualifying and the grand prix itself.
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