It was Max Verstappen against Lewis Hamilton for P1 in the very first practice of the Abu Dhabi GP with the Red Bull driver in the lead.
For the 22nd time this season, Verstappen and Hamilton have ventured out of their respective garages for the start of a grand prix weekend.
Never before, however, has driven so much in a practice session that Formula 1 will crown its 2021 world champion this weekend. Will it be Verstappen for the first time, or Hamilton for the eighth?
The first blood went to the Red Bull rider, who dominated the session with a 1: 25.009. Hamilton was third, 0.346 seconds off the pace.
The last dance for the RB16B ???????? #AbuDhabiGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/tasMYwoNjS
– Red Bull Racing Honda (@redbullracing) December 10, 2021
The session started with Kimi Raikkonen, who was soon to retire, setting the first time on the Yas Marina circuit, clocking 1: 28.8, but was quickly beaten by Hamilton.
The Mercedes driver collided with the front end while Verstappen complained that his steering was “quite badly right down”.
It didn’t seem to bother him too much, if at all, with the Dutchman clocking a time seven tenths faster than Hamilton’s first bet. Hamilton fired back, up three tenths, and so on.
The two traded punches throughout the 60-minute session with a cameo appearance from Fernando Alonso, but he was the only driver other than the title two to hit the front.
FP1 ended with Verstappen in P1, the Dutchman – with his leadership sorted by Red Bull – having clocked a best time of 1: 25.009 on a set of soft Pirelli tires.
Hamilton clocked 0.033s slower than Verstappen only to lose him for going over the track limits at turn 16. He finished the P3 session, behind Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.
Earlier in FP1, Bottas was the first driver to overstep the limits of the track, losing his first lap.
He asked Mercedes where he went wrong: “What’s the track limit, is that a white line? We told him yes, all around the circuit.
Nicholas Latifi joined the roster, fouling Turn 16 as he received an armful of an opposing lock coming out of the last turn. Lando Norris also had his time deleted, then another, then another.
Sergio Perez finished fourth at Red Bull, finishing ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, Alonso and Pierre Gasly.
Ferrari didn’t have the best start to the weekend, Charles Leclerc not setting a time in the first 25 minutes as he was back in the pit after two laps for a rear wing change.
The Monegasque pilot, running Helmet cam, also had a moment with one of the Red Bulls.
pic.twitter.com/mEYD6KqKiX
– Ky (@FiftyBucksVT) December 10, 2021
His teammate Carlos Sainz also spent time in the garage, informing Ferrari that something was wrong but lacked details.
Sainz came back in the last 20 minutes, finishing with the ninth fastest time, one place behind Leclerc.
Meanwhile, Raikkonen was the first to fall into the reconfigured Turn 9 hairpin, losing the rear of his Alfa Romeo and sliding backwards.
https://twitter.com/F1/status/1469246732030648322
Esteban Ocon’s Alpine stalled, leaving the driver wondering what he can do to fix the problem. Alpine guided him through the process, the Frenchman back on his way and up to ninth place.
Jack Aitken, in the Williams instead of George Russell just for FP1, finished 17th fastest.
Time
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:25.009
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0.196s
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 0.346s
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull 0.354s
5 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 0.812s
6 Fernando Alonso Alpine 0.616s
7 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 0.813s
8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 0.837s
9 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 0.877s
10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 0.998s
11 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1.016s
12 Lando Norris McLaren 1.114s
13 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1.180s
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1.400s
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1.599s
16 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1,667
17 Jack Aitken Williams 2.472
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams 2.478s
19 Mick Schumacher Haas 2.689s
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas 3.296s
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