F1 Abu Dhabi GP: Russell tops rookie-filled opening practice

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14

FP1 featured 10 drivers making way for rookies, as all the teams bar AlphaTauri, which had regulars Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo in the AT04s still sporting their Las Vegas livery, completed their rookie practice running requirement for the year.

For Red Bull to do this, it needed both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez to make way, with 2023 Formula E world champion and Red Bull development driver Jake Dennis and Isack Hadjar taking over at the wheels of the RB19s for the opening hour of weekend running at the season finale.

Russell dominated in the early stages, the Mercedes driver taking the benchmark time down from Lance Stroll’s initial 1m31.035s on the medium tyres to 1m26.313 just into the session’s second quarter with a series of improvements either side of a trip to the pits.

Lots of cars, including those of Robert Shwartzman and Felipe Drugovich in Charles Leclerc’s and Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari and Aston Martin respectively, ran giant aerodynamic measuring rakes as the teams used the time to evaluate parts ahead of the 2024 campaign.

Just before the halfway point, where Russell went faster again with a 1m26.081s this time on the soft tyres, Mick Doohan – in Esteban Ocon’s Alpine – and Logan Sargeant nearly collided at the penultimate corner.

Doohan was arriving at high speed through the double right complex that ends the Yas Marina lap while Sargeant slowly prepared for his next flying tour when the Williams driver moved right just as Doohan had opted to pass him on the inside and they nearly came together in an incident that will be investigated after the session.

Towards the end of the session Hadjar and Stroll had a moment at the end of the track’s first long straight, with the Red Bull junior having to jink around the Aston approaching the Turns 6 and 7 chicane.

Russell improved the best time to a 1m26.072s approaching the final third – this time only just going quicker via a last-gasp improvement in the final sector.

That remained as the session’s best time to the end, with Drugovich ending up second ahead of Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas and Stroll.

Then came Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz, Shwartzman, Pierre Gasly and Tsunoda.

Several drivers had major sideways moments coming out of the final corner and at a track where it is very hard to keep the soft tyres alive over a full lap – including Sainz, Stroll, Williams junior Zak O’Sullivan and McLaren F1 reserve and IndyCar racer Pato O’Ward.

Cars bottoming out was also a significant feature of the session, with Shwartzman and Theo Pourchaire – in for Zhou Guanyu at Alfa Romeo – nearly losing their machines as they struck the ground through the fast, flowing opening corners and McLaren telling Oscar Piastri it was seeing the effect across its cars.

The teams used the opening session to assess their initial ride height work on a track that has been resurfaced at Turns 6, 7, 10 and 11.

The session was concluded with the test of the new rain light warning systems on the rear of the cars.