2023 F1 Abu Dhabi GP results: Leclerc fastest in crash-filled practice - Motorsport.com

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Mercedes’ George Russell was fastest in Free Practice 1, by 0.28s from Aston Martin’s reserve driver Felipe Drugovich.

Leclerc paced a massively disrupted FP2 with a fastest time of 1m24.809s, following two red flags for big crashes for Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Nico Hulkenberg (Haas).

Abu Dhabi GP FP1 results: Russell fastest from Drugovich

Cla	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Time	Delay	Laps
1	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1'26.072		26
2	34	Felipe Drugovich	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1'26.360	0.288	26
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	1'26.433	0.361	26
4	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	1'26.453	0.381	21
5	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1'26.631	0.559	21
6	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren/Mercedes	1'26.665	0.593	25
7	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1'26.676	0.604	24
8	39	R.Shwartzman	Ferrari	1'26.703	0.631	25
9	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine/Renault	1'26.720	0.648	26
10	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	1'26.725	0.653	27
11	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams/Mercedes	1'26.742	0.670	27
12	42	Frederik Vesti	Mercedes	1'26.815	0.743	27
13	61	Jack Doohan	Alpine/Renault	1'26.865	0.793	23
14	98	Théo Pourchaire	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	1'27.093	1.021	20
15	29	Patricio O'Ward	McLaren/Mercedes	1'27.114	1.042	23
16	36	Jake Dennis	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'27.208	1.136	24
17	37	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'27.244	1.172	20
18	45	Zak O'Sullivan	Williams/Mercedes	1'27.460	1.388	28
19	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	1'27.462	1.390	26
20	50	Ollie Bearman	Haas/Ferrari	1'27.569	1.497	24

What happened in Abu Dhabi GP Free Practice 1?

This full-daylight session featured 10 rookies, who have contested two or fewer grands prix.

Russell set the early pace on medium tyres at 1m26.313s and improved to 1m26.072s on softs.

Drugovich, who was second quickest, was the only rookie in the top seven, lapping in 1m26.360s, ahead of regulars Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri), Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), Lance Stroll (Aston), Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari).

Robert Shwartzman was eighth in Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, ahead of Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri). Logan Sargeant was 11^th for Williams but almost caused a shunt for Jack Doohan in the second Alpine, who was 13^th fastest.

Frederik Vesti drove Lewis Hamilton’s Williams to 12^th and IndyCar ace Pato O’Ward was 15^th in Lando Norris’s McLaren.

Both regular Red Bull drivers gave up their seats in this session, with Formula E champion Jake Dennis and F2 star Isack Hadjar 16^th and 17^th respectively.

Zak O’Sullivan had a huge slide at the final corner on the way to 18^th for Williams.

Abu Dhabi GP FP2 results: Leclerc fastest from Norris

Cla	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Time	Delay	Laps
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1'24.809		16
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren/Mercedes	1'24.852	0.043	18
3	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'24.982	0.173	17
4	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	1'25.024	0.215	16
5	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'25.112	0.303	17
6	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1'25.122	0.313	17
7	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	1'25.223	0.414	18
8	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1'25.315	0.506	16
9	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine/Renault	1'25.321	0.512	15
10	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren/Mercedes	1'25.361	0.552	18
11	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1'25.397	0.588	17
12	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	1'25.467	0.658	16
13	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1'25.492	0.683	17
14	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine/Renault	1'25.566	0.757	17
15	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	1'25.669	0.860	17
16	23	Alexander Albon	Williams/Mercedes	1'26.081	1.272	20
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	1'26.413	1.604	18
18	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams/Mercedes	1'26.659	1.850	17
19	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1'26.707	1.898	4
20	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas/Ferrari	1'27.147	2.338	7

What happened in Abu Dhabi GP Free Practice 2?

FP2 was red-flagged after eight minutes when Sainz crashed heavily at Turn 3, the Spaniard blaming dirty air from a car in front as his car bottomed out over a bump and spun wildly into the Techpro barriers. The left side of his Ferrari was wrecked in the high-speed impact.

Over half the duration of the session was gone by the time it went green again, but a second red flag was caused almost immediately by Hulkenberg crashing on the exit of Turn 1. He spun to the inside and backed his Haas into the wall.

Russell led the way as the session restarted again in full darkness, with a 1m25.906s set on mediums inside the first few minutes. That was quickly eclipsed by Leclerc’s 1m24.809s on softs, with Norris getting within 0.043s and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 0.173s away in third.

Bottas was fourth from Sergio Perez (Red Bull), Russell and Zhou Guanyu (Alfa).