Max Verstappen fastest in opening practice at Abu Dhabi F1 finale
The Red Bull driver posted a 1m25.009s ꦰaround the revised Yas Marina Circuit to head Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas by 0.196s at the top of the timesheets, whi♍le championship rival Hamilton was third-quickest.
Hamilton had managed to get within 0.033s of Verstappen’s benc🎃hmark but had hi🌠s 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 🌺of the season level on points, setting up a tantalising winner-takes-all contest in the Ab🐬u Dhabi finale.
Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez pipped Yuki Tsunoda to the fourth-fastest time, with the AlphaTauri racer completing the 🌌top five.
Fernando Alonso briefly topped F𒁏P1 but eventually slipped back to sixth for Alpine, ahead of Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri.&n🐽bsp;
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 under𒁏 a second off the pace.
The four-time world champion saved a big spin coming out of the hotel section in t𒅌he closing moments of FP1.
Standing in for Williams regular George Russell during the final fir✨st practice session of the season, Jack Aitken outpaced Nicholas Latifi by just 0.006s.
FP2 will take place in more representative conditions under the lights that will be&nbs🍌p; replicated in qualifying and the grꩵand prix itself.
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.com around the world.ꦅ O🔴ften reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
