Max Verstappen pipped Valtteri Bottas by three hundredths of a second in the first practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton, returning from his Sakhir Grand Prix absence after testing negative for Covid-19 on Wednesday, was among the first drivers out on track in the first 10 minutes of practice. However, he was almost immediately struck by a brake problem, his engineer warning that disc temperatures were very high and Hamilton saying that he felt as though the car was constantly braking.After he pitted, Mercedes worked extensively on Hamilton’s car. He was able to return to the track but only ran the hard tyre compounds, not setting a representative time, and finished the session fifth fastest behind Esteban Ocon and Alexander Albon.
Bottas led much of the session with a time set on soft tyres, without any apparent interruption in running despite being warned about Hamilton’s brake problem. He was beaten to the fastest time in the final half hour by Verstappen, both over a second clear of third-fastest Ocon.
Albon lost grip on a fast lap and spun at turn 11. He was able to continue, having not seriously damaged his tyres, and finished fourth fastest, more than 1.1 seconds back from Verstappen’s time.
Daniel Ricciardo missed most of the session after stopping on track within the first 30 minutes of running, without having set a lap time. Renault confirmed a loss of fuel pressure caused the stoppage. As Ricciardo’s engine was only to be used during today’s practice sessions, he will not have to worry about taking a penalty.
The same is not true for Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen, who are already doomed to start the race from the back of the grid following power unit component changes.
The Racing Point cars were sixth and seventh fastest, Lance Stroll slightly ahead of Perez. AlphaTauri were eighth and ninth, Daniil Kvyat leading Pierre Gasly by just one hundredth of a second, both having set their times on medium tyres.
Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen completed the top 10. It was a largely unremarkable session for Ferrari, who finished 12th and 14th fastest, around two seconds off Verstappen.
George Russell, who headed Friday practice for Mercedes in Bahrain a week ago, led team mate Nicholas Latifi by more than half a second on his return to Williams. The Haas pair occupied the bottom of the times: Mick Schumacher, on his first real practice run during a grand prix weekend in Magnussen’s car, was three seconds ahead of Pietro Fittipaldi, who is substituting for Romain Grosjean again.
2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix first practice result
Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’37.378 | 26 | |
2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’37.412 | 0.034 | 32 |
3 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’38.515 | 1.137 | 34 |
4 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’38.547 | 1.169 | 25 |
5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’38.744 | 1.366 | 24 |
6 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’38.831 | 1.453 | 25 |
7 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’38.956 | 1.578 | 25 |
8 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’39.150 | 1.772 | 27 |
9 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’39.160 | 1.782 | 30 |
10 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’39.199 | 1.821 | 22 |
11 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’39.330 | 1.952 | 27 |
12 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’39.344 | 1.966 | 25 |
13 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’39.352 | 1.974 | 28 |
14 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’39.670 | 2.292 | 19 |
15 | 88 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’39.905 | 2.527 | 19 |
16 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’40.446 | 3.068 | 24 |
17 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’41.063 | 3.685 | 27 |
18 | 50 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1’41.235 | 3.857 | 23 |
19 | 51 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Haas-Ferrari | 1’44.069 | 6.691 | 24 |
20 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 3 |
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First practice visual gaps
Max Verstappen – 1’37.378
+0.034 Valtteri Bottas – 1’37.412
+1.137 Esteban Ocon – 1’38.515
+1.169 Alexander Albon – 1’38.547
+1.366 Lewis Hamilton – 1’38.744
+1.453 Lance Stroll – 1’38.831
+1.578 Sergio Perez – 1’38.956
+1.772 Daniil Kvyat – 1’39.150
+1.782 Pierre Gasly – 1’39.160
+1.821 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’39.199
+1.952 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’39.330
+1.966 Charles Leclerc – 1’39.344
+1.974 Lando Norris – 1’39.352
+2.292 Sebastian Vettel – 1’39.670
+2.527 Robert Kubica – 1’39.905
+3.068 George Russell – 1’40.446
+3.685 Nicholas Latifi – 1’41.063
+3.857 Mick Schumacher – 1’41.235
+6.691 Pietro Fittipaldi – 1’44.069
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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Jere (@jerejj)
11th December 2020, 10:58
I wonder why are the trackside TV screens on for this weekend, even though no one’s on the grandstands? The hand gesturing between the Mercs, though.
Qeki (@qeki)
11th December 2020, 12:48
Maybe they were too lazy to remove all of them :).
Did Schumacher even drive? I only saw him like 10 seconds. It was his first proper drive in a f1 car and they didn’t even show him.
It is also (again) Renault’s final weekend as they get rebranded as Alpine next season.
J_Olivier
11th December 2020, 14:30
As normal with the second to last driver. I guess the only reason they showed him 10 seconds was because it was his first official session in F1. Why would they give him more time, because of his last name?
BasCB (@bascb)
11th December 2020, 10:59
Well, well. Off course Max set his time when the track was more rubbered in. But let’s hope he stays as close to the mercedes cars once Lewis gets up to speed too.
Dean Franklin (@deanfranklin)
11th December 2020, 11:44
My brakes are gone, Bono.
Russell in Bottas’s car would be top of the charts.
Verstappen has no business in Newey’s worst car matching the Mercs.
Perico
11th December 2020, 12:32
Still slower than Kubica in a Ferrari engine though.
bosyber (@bosyber)
11th December 2020, 12:34
Seems like the problem rather was that his brakes were never gone (for long) @deanfranklin!
anon
11th December 2020, 12:53
And we have the not at all suspect copying and pasting of the exact same comments from the account of Oconomo directly into this account, just as that poster is now trying to push the fake narrative that the RB16 is supposed to be an utterly terrible car with their alternative accounts.
No doubt we will then see Oconomo reappearing to furiously try to distract attention from his blatant sockpuppeting to spam every thread with the same thing.
Dave (@davewillisporter)
11th December 2020, 13:04
@deanfranklin Newey’s worst car was the McLaren MP4-18. It was so bad and crashed so often the race drivers refused to test it and Ron instigated a “control” board over Newey’s designs which was the reason he left to join Redbull.
Agree though, George would be faster than Bottas after only a week. Lewis not on his game yet but he will be by Q3 of qualy.
Carlos Medrano (@carlosmedrano)
11th December 2020, 13:13
Can we stop with this myth that red bull didn’t have a fast car this year. Max is almost always within 3 tenths of Hamilton. Gasly is driving Neweys worst car. Max had several chances to win this year including last race but made mistakes
RB13
11th December 2020, 13:55
@carlosmedrano say it louder for Jekyll and Jekyll (Oconoma aka @deanfranklin )
Sam Crawford
11th December 2020, 12:41
Kubica and Raikkonen in the Alfa together, must be one of the oldest pairings in F1 for a while?!
Oli
11th December 2020, 13:45
Mick more than 2 seconds faster than Piero? Wicked
Mike Davies (@nanotech)
11th December 2020, 14:41
@Oli definitely curious if there was any mitigating circumstances there, because that’s a massive gap! Good job Mick!
Martin
11th December 2020, 14:49
Piero was doing testing for next year, Mick was not.