Abu Dhabi GP | Valtteri Bottas leads the first practice in Abu Dhabi
The overview of the first practice session of Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The first Friday practice was starting slowly as usual, the drivers were preparing and focused on their installation laps. Daniil Kvyat and Robert Kubica headed out onto the track first. Kubica’s teammate George Russell risked to miss the session due to some medical issues, but still went to the track right after Robert.
The first proper time was shown by Charles Leclerc from Ferrari – 1:40.298. Sebastian Vettel, who arrived in the paddock just today since he was meeting the birth of his third child in Switzerland, also set the time, but he was over two minutes on that lap.
The Red Bull driver Alex Albon moved to P2 with the time of 1:40.751, 0,4 seconds behind Leclerc.
The Mercedes drivers appeared on the track lately, but immediately got the pace. Valtteri Bottas took the top spot with 1:38.053 on Softs. Meanwhile Lewis still was sitting in pits. Next lap Bottas improved the time by 1:37.975.
Few minutes later Lewis came out on the track and caught the teammate in P2 with 1:38.566.
With 30 minutes gone, Bottas still was on top. But not long, because his teammate Lewis Hamilton after discussing different modes with the team went faster – 1:37.591. However, the driver had some concerns about his pace and told the team that he "has got limp home", and then came to the pits to check his car.
After a little break Bottas came out on the track on Medium tyres and immediately retook P1 with the fastest time – 1:36.957.
With Bottas’ overtake, Lewis also was passed by Max Verstappen and dropped to P3. Max set a 1:37.492.
By the 29th minute of the session it was stopped due to Ricciardo’s engine failure. He literally had a very hot lap, his car splat the flames. Daniel’s car spurted some fluid on the track, so the marshals tried to clean it fast.
🔴 RED FLAG 🔴
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 29, 2019
Daniel Ricciardo pulls over with an oil leak, and the session is stopped#AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/17f9Q9VGK2
The session was resumed 16 minutes before the end.
Scuderia Ferrari couldn’t improve the results during the session. Sebastian and Charles stayed behind the rivals from Red Bull and Mercedes, in P5 (Vettel) and P7 (Leclerc). Obviously both drivers had some issues with Sector 2 and Sector 3, because lost there a lot of time.
5 minutes to go Vettel crashed into the wall in the final sector. The session was stopped with red flags again and not restarted.
The full results of FP1:
FP1 CLASSIFICATION@ValtteriBottas tops the charts, in an all @MercedesAMGF1 and @redbullracing top four#AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/seoSD4ZyM8
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 29, 2019
