George Russell was the fastest in the first free practice of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix of Formula 1 – the last round of the season. More than half of the grid was made up of rookies, with Red Bull even fielding two young drivers: Isack Hadjar and Jake Dennis.
Right from the start, Russell (Mercedes) set the pace after surpassing Lance Stroll (Aston Martin). Several drivers also worked on aerodynamic tests, with their cars equipped with measurement devices.
At about halfway through, Jack Doohan (Alpine) and Logan Sargeant (Williams) came close to colliding in the penultimate corner of Yas Marina, when the Australian was at high speed and encountered the American at a slow pace, preparing for a lap.
Hadjar and Stroll also had a small disagreement later in the session. Meanwhile, Russell improved the benchmark time to 1m26.072s, which was not beaten. Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin) surprised with the second fastest time, 0.288s behind.
Third was Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri), with the top five completed by Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) and Stroll ahead of Oscar Piastri (McLaren). Carlos Sainz had the best Ferrari in seventh, just ahead of Robert Shwartzman who replaced Charles Leclerc.
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