EL1 at Yas Marina: Red Bull calls the shots

The Red Bull are definitely terribly frisky at the end of the season. After a regular victory in Mexico and a Brazilian Grand Prix that he should have won, Max Verstappen signaled for entry onto the Yas Marina circuit.

The Dutchman clocked 1'38''491 to beat his Australian teammate by almost half a second. They take in their wake, although at a good distance, the Silver Arrows of Valtteri Bottas de Lewis Hamilton. Both Mercedes are about a second from the first reference of the 21st and final weekend of the season. 

Esteban Ocon, who confirmed on Thursday that he would not be on the grid in 2019, starts in 5th place aboard the top-ranked Force India. The Norman is ahead of Haas de Kevin Magnussen. 

The Ferraris of Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel are discreet with the 7th and 8th times. The two members of Maranello covered quite a few laps with the hardest tire brought by Pirelli to the United Arab Emirates.

The best Renault is 9th and it is the RS18 of Carlos Sainz. Romain Grosjean (Haas) completes the Top 10 for Haas, while his compatriot Pierre Gasly fails at the gates of the first half of the table with the best representatives of Toro Rosso-Honda. 

For his last weekend of F1, Fernando Alonso occupies a sad 19th place, one place behind his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne, also at the start. 

One day after the officialization of his tenure at Williams, Robert Kubica brings up the rear with a time 4,5 seconds slower than Verstappen's best mark and 1,5 seconds behind Lance stroll, 15th at the wheel of the highest ranked FW41. 

It will be interesting to see if these first trends are confirmed during the second free practice session, held at dusk and therefore in more representative conditions compared to the race on Sunday. First elements of responses from 17:00 p.m. local time, i.e. 14:00 p.m. in France.

FP1 CLASSIFICATION (90/90 MINS): A perfect start for @redbullracing #AbuDhabiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/1FfkaVc3Wq

- Formula 1 (@ F1) November 23, 2018