Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel fastest in first Abu Dhabi GP practice – F1

Formula 1


Upgrade for free today

You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month.

Sebastian Vettel beat Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton to the quickest time in first practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Ferrari driver Vettel clocked a 1m39.006s on the ultra-soft Pirelli tyres to end the 90-minute session 0.120 seconds clear of Hamilton at Yas Marina.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was only 0.028s further back in third place, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen fourth, half a second off the ultimate pace.

Hamilton was the early pacesetter, clocking a 1m41.135s on the soft tyres, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas focusing on the super-soft tyres.

Raikkonen, whose Ferrari featured a Red Bull-style diffuser as part of the team’s experiments for 2018, then went quickest on the ultra-softs.

The Finn improved again to a 1m39.741s, but was then demoted as Hamilton and Bottas fitted the ultra-soft tyres just before the halfway mark.

Bottas was the first to cross the line, moving to the top of the pile with a 1m39.741s, but Hamilton beat that by an impressive 0.615s.

Though Verstappen’s first effort on the ultra-softs was just a fraction off Hamilton’s pace, both were bumped down when Vettel did his ultra-soft run.

Bottas ended the session fifth quickest, ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez, who was 1.287s off the pace.

Fernando Alonso didn’t set a laptime until the second half of the session, with the McLaren driver slotting straight into the top 10 on the ultra-soft tyres.

He ended up seventh, 1.516s off the pace and just 0.037s ahead of McLaren team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne in eighth.

Felipe Massa, contesting his final F1 grand prix weekend, was ninth for Williams with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the top 10.

Mercedes protege George Russell borrowed Esteban Ocon’s Force India for first practice and ended up 11th fastest, eight tenths adrift of Perez.

Antonio Giovinazzi was the other non-race driver to take part in the session, running in place of Kevin Magnussen at Haas and going 18th quickest.

Renault’s Carlos Sainz Jr and Nico Hulkenberg were down in 15th and 17th respectively, but they did not run the ultra-soft tyre. Hulkenberg also had a quick spin out of Turn 14 at the end of the complex that follows the track’s second long straight.

FP1 times

Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m39.006s 23
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m39.126s 0.120s 25
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m39.154s 0.148s 15
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m39.518s 0.512s 22
5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m39.741s 0.735s 30
6 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m40.293s 1.287s 24
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m40.522s 1.516s 20
8 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Honda 1m40.569s 1.563s 15
9 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m40.723s 1.717s 27
10 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m40.773s 1.767s 29
11 George Russell Force India/Mercedes 1m41.131s 2.125s 26
12 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m41.306s 2.300s 24
13 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1m41.581s 2.575s 27
14 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Renault 1m41.646s 2.640s 29
15 Carlos Sainz Renault 1m41.748s 2.742s 23
16 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber/Ferrari 1m41.752s 2.746s 26
17 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m41.864s 2.858s 26
18 Antonio Giovinazzi Haas/Ferrari 1m42.065s 3.059s 21
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m42.344s 3.338s 28
20 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso/Renault 1m42.585s 3.579s 35



Source link

Products You May Like

Articles You May Like

“Clean air” aided Thermal IndyCar runner-up spot
Palou takes dominant IndyCar win in Thermal Million Dollar Challenge
Rosenqvist, Palou claim heat poles for IndyCar $1m challenge race
The good, bad, and ugly of IndyCar’s half-baked exhibition race
Why the new British GT season is too tough to call

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *