Abu Dhabi – EL1: Verstappen dominates for the first, Hamilton 3rd

At the center of attention this weekend in Abu Dhabi where he is playing for the world title, Max Verstappen started his stay in the United Arab Emirates very well. The pilot Red Bull has indeed distinguished himself as the fastest among his comrades and becomes the man to beat.

A fast start to Friday 🏁 Max and Checo are P1 and P4 at the end of FP1 💪 #AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/BfmLzWUvO0

- Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) December 10, 2021

Highly anticipated, the Red Bull driver was not idle on the tarmac of Yas Marina where he completed a little more than 20 laps (23 to be precise). At ease from his first passages on a circuit where we gained around ten seconds in a year (changing two slow sequences with long fast turns), Max Verstappen quickly set the tone by beating the 1'26″ 146 of Fernando Alonso with a time of 1’25”300.

In the meantime, Lewis Hamilton tried to follow the pace set by his rival but failed twice, first relegated to 0″252 before coming back to 0″055 behind him. Moment chosen by Max Verstappen to deal the final blow by signing a lap in 1’25”009 on soft tires which allowed him to relegate his counterpart from Mercedes almost three and a half tenths. The Briton, however, returned to the charge with a lap in 1’25”042 with just under 20 minutes remaining. Unfortunately, a trip beyond the track limits forced the panel of commissioners to withdraw his time, dropping him to 3rd place overall. Up for his last with Mercedes this weekend, Valtteri Bottas then took the opportunity to insert himself between the two strong men with almost 2 tenths behind first place.

Red Bull's second weapon to try to counter Lewis Hamilton in Abu Dhabi, Sergio Pérez played the game very well by ranking 4th just 8 thousandths from 3rd place and therefore from the Englishman. Rookie on this Yas Marina route, Yuki tsunoda had a very good first outing with a good 5th position less than 4 tenths from the main representative of the Red Bull family, Max Verstappen.

Sporting a rear wing bearing the inscription “El Plan”, Fernando Alonso worked his plan perfectly this Friday. With a 1’25″625 (+ 0″616), the double world champion placed in 6th position, just ahead of a Pierre Gasly still as regular. Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz et Sebastian Vettel completed the Top 10.

It's time for our final practice session of the year! 🙌

And, @alo_oficial and @OconEsteban have a new addition to their @AlpineF1Team cars 😉#F1 🇦🇪 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/bDDWkKU1jv

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 10, 2021

In the fight with Ferrari for 3rd place in the Constructors' championship, McLaren sees his goal moving away and this first session confirms it a little more. At the end of the first hour of driving, Lando Norris et Daniel Ricciardo are only in 12th and 16th positions. It’s up to them to increase the pace to hope to return to the Team by Sunday.

Present at Williams in place of George Russell for these FP1, Jack Aitken was unable to leave the back of the grid with the 17th time almost 2″5 behind Max Verstappen. However, he managed to beat his teammate of the day, Nicholas latifi.

More information coming soon ...