Abu Dhabi GP – Page 2 – Syndication Server

McLaren locks out top two spots in final F1 practice of the year

Oscar Piastri led a comfortable McLaren one-two ahead of teammate Lando Norris in the final practice session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, while title rival Ferrari remained almost half a second off the pace. The final practice hour of the season was …

The final practice hour of the season was a subdued affair, with conditions in the late afternoon unrepresentative of the night-time qualifying session later today or Sunday’s twilight race, with the ambient temperature creeping about 104 degrees F.

After some early exploratory laps, Piastri set the pace on a fresh set of soft tires at 1m23.433s, beating teammate Norris by 0.193s, inverting the order of McLaren’s one-two in FP2 on Friday night.

Lewis Hamilton unexpectedly slotted into third after improving on a second performance run on a used set of softs, though he was still 0.39s off the pace, while Max Verstappen, who complained of a lack of bite from his front brakes, was 0.411s off the pace in fourth.

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The best constructors’ championship contender Ferrari could muster was fifth with Carlos Sainz, who was 0.438s slower than Piastri’s leading McLaren. Charles Leclerc, who carries a 10-place grid penalty into the grand prix for a battery change, was ninth fastest and 0.665s of the pace.

“We are nowhere. Nowhere,” Leclerc said over team radio when told of his gap to the front.

George Russell was a confused sixth, the Mercedes driver 0.642s off the pace and around 0.2s adrift from the leading five cars. The Briton, who started last weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix from pole position, was mystified as to his lack of pace.

“I’m not sure what’s going on,” he radioed early in the session. “The car feels OK, just very slow.

“I don’t really know why the pace is so bad. Everything feels reasonably normal, it’s just all slow.”

Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were closely matched, the Haas teammates separated by just 0.001s and less than 0.02s slower than Russell. The German and Dane wedged themselves ahead of Leclerc, who trailed by 0.004s.

Sergio Perez completed the top 10 in the second Red Bull Racing car, lapping 0.85s off the pace and 0.439s slower than teammate Verstappen.

Yuki Tsunoda was 11th for RB at the head of a super tight group of eight cars spread over less than 0.2s.

Alex Albon put his Williams 12th and just 0.035s off the pace, with Pierre Gasly following for Alpine a further 0.03s adrift.

Jack Doohan, who teased that he’d left plenty of time on the table on Friday in pursuit of a smooth build-up to qualifying, improved massively overnight relative to his teammate, lapping just 0.026s slower than Gasly.

Valtteri Bottas was 16th ahead of Liam Lawson and Lance Stroll, the trio split by 0.052s.

Zhou Guanyu was 19th and 1.235s off the pace, the Chinese driver around 0.1s ahead of Williams rookie Franco Colapinto at the back of the pack.

ESPN moves live telecast of Abu Dhabi GP

ESPN has made a platform change for the live telecast of Sunday’s Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of the 2024 F1 season. Originally scheduled to air on ESPN2, the race will now air on ESPN, along with streaming on ESPN+. Coverage …

ESPN has made a platform change for the live telecast of Sunday’s Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of the 2024 F1 season.

Originally scheduled to air on ESPN2, the race will now air on ESPN, along with streaming on ESPN+.

Coverage begins with the Grand Prix Sunday pre-race show at 6:30am ET. The race telecast begins at 7:55am.

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McLaren situation ‘looks better than it is,’ Norris says

Lando Norris insists McLaren is not comfortably quicker than the rest of the field at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as its constructors’ title hopes took a boost due to a penalty for Charles Leclerc. Ferrari had to change the energy store in Leclerc’s …

Lando Norris insists McLaren is not comfortably quicker than the rest of the field at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as its constructors’ title hopes took a boost due to a penalty for Charles Leclerc.

Ferrari had to change the energy store in Leclerc’s car during FP1, triggering a 10-place grid penalty that further reduces its chances of overturning a 21-point deficit to McLaren in the fight for the constructors’ championship. Norris then duly went fastest in FP2 — the main representative practice session of the weekend — ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri, but downplayed how good the standings made the team look.

“The car’s been feeling good the whole day, so we continued our pace out of Qatar and it feels strong,” Norris said. “I definitely think we have some things to improve on both low and high fuel [loads], probably more so the high fuel.

“It certainly looks better than it is. I don’t think any of the others turned up their engines yet, so it might look glorious for now but I think we’re still going to have a tough fight tomorrow.”

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Even so, Norris acknowledged the areas he wants to make progress on are more a case of fine-tuning than major weaknesses that McLaren is facing.

“It’s nothing huge; it’s small things,” he said. “It’s trying to find a balance going quicker but saving the tires, especially in the longer-run stuff. Where can you push more and where do you need to save? How can you save the tires more with driving, with the toys I can change on my steering wheel, the underlying balance of the car? Just trying to find the right compromise is the main thing.”

Team principal Andrea Stella says the penalty for Leclerc doesn’t take any pressure off McLaren as it looks to secure a first constructors’ title since 1998.

“Not at all,” Stella said. “I guess you expected this answer! Not at all. We talk about Charles Leclerc. We talk about Ferrari. It’s a very strong combination. I think even with the penalty, I wouldn’t be surprised if we can see them very rapidly fighting for the front, for the top positions. So nothing changes. We keep remaining calm, focused and full of energy.”

Horner laughs off Wolff comments: ‘I love terriers’

Christian Horner laughed off barbs from Toto Wolff that described the Red Bull team principal as a “yapping little terrier” at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Wolff made an impromptu appearance during a George Russell press conference on Thursday to …

Christian Horner laughed off barbs from Toto Wolff that described the Red Bull team principal as a “yapping little terrier” at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Wolff made an impromptu appearance during a George Russell press conference on Thursday to defend his driver and criticize Horner for his use of the term “hysterical” when describing Russell’s behavior at times during the Qatar Grand Prix weekend. When the comments were put to Horner, he remained relatively reserved, saying there are worse things to be described as.

“I love terriers — I think they are great dogs!” Horner said. “I’ve had four! A couple of airedales, which are the king of the terriers. I had couple of West Highland terriers called Bernie and Flavio. The good thing with terriers is that they are tremendously loyal. Bernie was an aggressive little dog — he’d go for anybody. Flavio was a bit more chilled out, he maybe ate too much as well.

“Look, to be called a terrier, is that such a bad thing? They are not afraid to have a go at the bigger dogs. I’d rather be called a terrier than a wolf, maybe.”

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Horner says he doesn’t believe the recent falling out between Russell and Max Verstappen is re-opening animosity between the top personnel at Red Bull and Mercedes, despite Wolff claiming Horner has been “weak” in the way he has handled his driver.

“Toto’s quite dramatic as we all know,” he said. “I wasn’t talking about the psychology of his driver. When I was referring to hysterics, I was more referring to the roasting that he gave his team when they fitted a set of hards onto the car when he’d asked for a set of mediums and expressed his displeasure for the tire choice that they’d put on the car. I’d get fined if I were to repeat the language he used in this press conference.

“A lot has been said — we know Toto likes to talk a lot but that’s the way it is. For us, we just want to finish the season on a high, have a great race, see these guys battle it out and hopefully everybody then can have a well-earned break and rest after this race.

“Regarding Toto’s other comments, I’m not going to raise to the bait of that. Everybody manages themselves and their teams in different ways. We’ve won 122 races, we’ve won 14 world championships. I think we’re doing all right.”

Horner also doesn’t expect the situation to spill out onto the track, despite Russell’s claim that Verstappen had threatened to intentionally crash into him in Qatar.

“Max is a very straight shooter — he tells you exactly how he sees it,” Horner said. “He tells the truth, exactly what he feels. He had a large amount of frustration last weekend with the way things played out. It was a scenario we hadn’t seen before, with the subsequent grid penalty. He turned it into motivation and had a blinding start. He won the grand prix, which was the best possible response.

“Obviously a lot was made of it yesterday — it’s pantomime season. We are getting ready for Christmas. So there’s maybe some end-of-term blues there but I don’t think it will have any effect on the grand prix itself.”

Norris leads McLaren one-two in Abu Dhabi practice 2

Lando Norris topped second practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the head of a McLaren one-two with Oscar Piastri. Norris’s flying lap on soft tires came around halfway through the hour as the sun set on the Yas Marina Circuit, It was a formidable …

Lando Norris topped second practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the head of a McLaren one-two with Oscar Piastri.

Norris’s flying lap on soft tires came around halfway through the hour as the sun set on the Yas Marina Circuit, It was a formidable effort, with teammate Piastri 0.234s adrift while simultaneously being similarly far ahead of the rest of the field

The Australian — who completed his first laps at the track after having surrendered his car for rookie testing in FP1 — lost the bulk of the time to his teammate in the first sector, where Piastri lost more than 0.13s to the sister car. He was otherwise more closely matched around the lap.

It bodes well for McLaren’s defense of the championship lead, with fourth place the best Ferrari could manage with Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard 0.582 off the pace.

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Charles Leclerc fared even worse, winding up sixth and 0.684s off the pace, though his only flying lap on softs was interrupted by traffic into the Turn 6-7 chicane at the top of the circuit, rendering his time unrepresentative.

The Ferrari driver was nonetheless already off the pace by the end of the first split, though the 10-place grid penalty incurred for taking a new battery in FP1 puts a greater emphasis on the Monegasque’s race pace anyway. But Leclerc harbored concerns about that, too, exclaiming McLaren are “really fast” when told of the rival team’s race pace during simulations late in the session.

Slotting between McLaren and Ferrari was Nico Hulkenberg in fourth, the Haas driver lapping 0.462s off the pace, while Lewis Hamilton split the two Ferrari drivers in fifth, the Briton 0.602s adrift.

Valtteri Bottas was seventh for Sauber, putting last week’s upgrades through their paces, ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon, who limped his Williams back to his garage with 15 minutes remaining with what the team said was a concern in the data, though the Thai driver was able to rejoin the track later in the session.

Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10 for RB just 0.006s ahead of teammate Liam Lawson.

Pierre Gasly was 12th fastest for Alpine ahead of George Russell, while Sergio Perez led the way on a troubled evening for Red Bull Racing in 14th.

Zhou Guanyu and Fernando Alonso followed in 15th and 16th, beating a miserable Max Verstappen. The Dutchman was 1.081s off the pace after complaining of serious drivability issues with his Red Bull Racing car, including “ridiculous” understeer.

The car’s recalcitrance saw him clambering over the curbs at Turn 3 late in the session, triggering fears he might have damaged his plank, but he completed the session without intervention.

Lance Stroll was 18th for Aston Martin ahead of Alpine debutant Jack Doohan and Williams rookie Franco Colapinto, whose session ended after just 10 laps when the Argentine clattered over the curbs at Turn 9 and did considerable damage to his floor.

10-place grid penalty for Leclerc hits Ferrari title hopes

Ferrari’s chances of winning the Formula 1 constructors’ championship have taken a hit as Charles Leclerc will take a grid penalty at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Leclerc failed to run in the first part of FP1 due to a power unit issue, and Ferrari …

Ferrari’s chances of winning the Formula 1 constructors’ championship have taken a hit as Charles Leclerc will take a grid penalty at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Leclerc failed to run in the first part of FP1 due to a power unit issue, and Ferrari later confirmed it had needed to change his energy store to get him out on track. With that move Leclerc exceeded his maximum number of permitted components and as it’s the first time he has taken an item outside of his allocation, it carries a 10-place grid penalty.

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Ferrari already faced a tall order to try and overhaul McLaren at the final race of the season, with the Scuderia trailing by 21 points with a maximum of 44 points available. Leclerc’s second place in the Qatar Grand Prix last weekend had closed the gap to less than a race victory.

Leclerc did finish the first practice session fastest overall at Yas Marina Circuit, having taken part in FP1 alongside his brother Arthur, who posted the 18th-fastest time.

Two other grid penalties have also been triggered by Williams, with both cars exceeding the maximum permitted number of gearbox components, leading to a five-place drop for each of Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto.

Leclerc on top but faces penalty blow in Abu Dhabi FP1

Charles Leclerc beat Lando Norris to top spot in first practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix but will serve a 10-place grid penalty for having a new battery frantically installed into his Ferrari at the start of the session. A battery issued was …

A battery issued was detected in the Monegasque’s car as it was fired up ahead of the session, and subsequent work to install a third battery — one more than allowed for the season — restricted him to his garage for the first 30 minutes of the practice hour.

Around half the session remained when the Monegasque was finally able to strap on his helmet and take to the circuit, shaking down the car on the medium tire before embarking on a performance run on softs. His first flying lap took him to top sport with a best time of 1m24.321s, topping Norris by 0.221s, although the Briton had set his time some 18 minutes earlier on a greener circuit in warmer conditions.

Leclerc’s program was busy thereafter, completing a long run on the soft tire to clock up a commendable 19 laps, limiting the damage done to Ferrari’s data-gathering program on the constructors’ title-deciding weekend.

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While FP1 for the twilight Abu Dhabi took place in unrepresentative daytime conditions, it was important for Leclerc to accumulate mileage given Carlos Sainz also sat out the session, with rookie Arthur Leclerc fulfilling the team’s final mandatory rookie outing of the season.

Mercedes was next-best in the order. Lewis Hamilton led the way in third but was 0.485s off the pace, while George Russell fared worse, at 0.844s off the pace. Hamilton will see the stewards after the session for impeding Norris at the final corner.

Pierre Gasly was fifth and 1.012s off the pace for Alpine, which is hoping to cling to sixth in the constructors standings ahead of Haas, for whom Nico Hulkenberg put his car sixth and just 0.04s adrift.

Franco Colapinto was seventh with a new gearbox installed in the back of his Williams, incurring him a five-place grid penalty for Sunday.

Kevin Magnussen started his final weekend with Haas in eighth ahead of Aston Martin’s Felipe Drugovich, the fastest of the six rookie drivers participating in FP1 in Abu Dhabi. Drugovich, the 2022 Formula 2 champion, was 1.15s off the pace and 0.033s quicker than teammate Fernando Alonso in 11th.

Splitting the green cars was Sergio Perez, completing the top 10 at 1.162 off the pace.

Liam Lawson was 12th in the lead RB car ahead of Valtteri Bottas on his last weekend with Sauber.

McLaren development driver Ryo Hirakawa piloted Oscar Piastri’s McLaren to 14th and 1.553s off the pace. He was just 0.003s quicker than Red Bull Racing reserve driver Isack Hadjar.

Frenchman Hadjar — who is also competing for the F2 championship this weekend — had a scrappy session, spinning off the road early in the hour at Turn 7 as he complained of being squeezed into Max Verstappen’s cockpit, in which his legs were touching the steering wheel and preventing him reaching full lock. The 2025 RB hopeful was subsequently incensed to be twice impeded by Williams stand-in Luke Browning on his way to an underwhelming 15th.

Zhou Guanyu was 16th in a Sauber he said had “crazy” understeer, beating RB substitute Ayumu Iwasa, who had commandeered Yuki Tsunoda’s car for the session.

Arthur Leclerc’s participation for Ferrari made history as the first time two siblings entered an official session as teammates, the brothers waving at each other on the cool-down lap. The younger Leclerc was 18th and 1.858s slower than the sister car.

Alpine rookie Jack Doohan, making his F1 debut this weekend in the place of the ousted Esteban Ocon, was 19th and 1.983s off the pace, while Browning completed the order for Williams at 2.198s adrift and after having been shown a black and white flag for twice impeding Iwasa.

Technical updates: 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Two teams have brought updates to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as the development cycle finishes at the final race of the 2024 Formula 1 season. After three consecutive race weekends that also included a Sprint race in Qatar last Saturday, there were …

Two teams have brought updates to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as the development cycle finishes at the final race of the 2024 Formula 1 season.

After three consecutive race weekends that also included a Sprint race in Qatar last Saturday, there were always likely to be limited upgrades introduced in the closing rounds of the season, with the main value coming from track data for 2025. Only RB and Stake have new parts this weekend at the Yas Marina Circuit, the remaining eight teams staying with their existing cars.

At RB a new front wing incorporates the majority of the design, with new mainplane elements, flap and endplates. The team says the result of the update is “the loading distribution across the front wing is modified to promote better quality flow to the rest of the car.”

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There is a more substantial package at Stake, where a new floor — the primary performance differentiator on the current generation of car — adds volume to the rear floor body.

“The updated floor geometry is aiming to improve the flow characteristics by reducing the losses in critical ride height conditions,” the team says.

That development is paired with an upgraded rear corner, modifying a rear brake duct deflector “to improve the rear tire jet vortex control and increasing the overall efficiency of the diffuser.”

New names to compete in FP1 in Abu Dhabi

Drivers taking part in FP1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will include multiple F1 debutants, as teams look to complete their mandatory allocation at the final race of the season. Formula 1’s sporting regulations state every team must run a rookie …

Drivers taking part in FP1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will include multiple F1 debutants, as teams look to complete their mandatory allocation at the final race of the season.

Formula 1’s sporting regulations state every team must run a rookie driver — who has started no more than two grands prix — on at least two occasions during the season. Each race driver has to miss one FP1 each, although teams are also allowed to exceed the total if they wish.

With Abu Dhabi marking the final round of the season and a venue where there is no Sprint race, FP1 is often utilized due to the weather conditions. FP2, qualifying and the race all take place at sunset, while FP1 and FP3 are in the heat of the day and less representative.

The top three teams in the constructors’ championship are all running rookies on Friday, with current leader McLaren giving a debut to Ryo Hirakawa. The 30-year-old Toyota-backed driver has been part of the McLaren driver development program and served as reserve this year, and will also drive for Haas — that has a Toyota partnership — in the post-race test.

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Ferrari will provide a unique opportunity as it gives another first chance to one of its driver academy members in the form of Arthur Leclerc. As the younger brother of Charles (pictured middle, above, with Arthur Leclerc at right) and with the Monegasque taking over Carlos Sainz’s car, it will mark the first time two siblings have run as teammates in F1.

At Red Bull, Isack Hadjar gets another chance to impress as he replaces Max Verstappen for FP1. Hadjar has had one outing so far this year, and this second one comes with the Red Bull reserve just half a point behind championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto heading into the Formula 2 title decider. Hadjar is also expected to race for RB next season if Red Bull replaces Sergio Perez with one of the current RB drivers.

Aston Martin is once again giving reserve driver Felipe Drugovich an appearance, with the 2022 F2 champion replacing Lance Stroll, while another returnee is Ayumu Iwasa at RB. Iwasa drove in his home race weekend in Japan earlier this year and will complete his second FP1 session in place of Yuki Tsunoda.

There’s a third debutant on show on Friday in Abu Dhabi, too, with Williams giving a first FP1 run to young driver Luke Browning. The 22-year-old raced in Formula 3 this year — finishing third in the championship — and then took over fellow Williams young driver Zak O’Sullivan’s seat in F2 for the final three rounds.

‘I will be driving for Red Bull next year’ – Perez

Sergio Perez insists nothing has changed in his belief that he will be driving for Red Bull in 2025, despite RACER understanding that talks have taken place regarding his contract situation. Red Bull has been disappointed with Perez’s points return …

Sergio Perez insists nothing has changed in his belief that he will be driving for Red Bull in 2025, despite RACER understanding that talks have taken place regarding his contract situation.

Red Bull has been disappointed with Perez’s points return this season as it has failed to defend its constructors’ championship, as he currently sits 277 points adrift of teammate Max Verstappen. Helmut Marko has already confirmed a shareholder meeting will take place next week to discuss options when it comes to Perez’s seat, and sources close to the situation have told RACER that there have been talks regarding his future, but the driver himself says he’s staying put.

“For me it’s just important to focus on the weekend,” said Perez (pictured at right, above, with Verstappen). “Give the best possible I can for the team to really try and prove to the whole group of the team that we can do it. I think that’s the main objective for the weekend.

“Nothing has changed since before in terms of what I’ve said for the entire year. I’ve got a contract for next year and I will be driving for Red Bull next year.

“To be honest I haven’t been [reading] much into it. For sure I have seen the rumors, but nothing different to the last couple of ones. But in that regard nothing further to add. I already said it in the last six months, that I’m here, I renewed with the team earlier in the year and I’m here to be the driver for the team next year and it’s where my full focus is.”

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After public comments from Marko and team principal Christian Horner that did little to quell the speculation, Perez says the team needs to remain united at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“I think it’s just important to stay together. The season hasn’t been the greatest but at the end of the day there’s a reason why they renewed me,” he said. “They know I can still do it and that’s the important factor.

“Of course I take responsibility [for the constructors’ championship], but also I don’t feel it’s all down to one person. I’m obviously part of a big organization, a big team, and it’s very unfortunate we did not fight any harder for the constructors’ [title].”

Perez believes there is still not enough appreciation of how tough it is to be Verstappen’s teammate, and believes any young driver who could replace him would face an extreme test.

“It’s an incredible challenge,” he said. “I knew what I signed for when I came here. It’s an incredible challenge, a challenge that people should not underestimate the level of experience, the level of capacity, of mental strength that you need to cope with this extreme…

“Being teammates with Max at Red Bull for a young driver, I wouldn’t like to be in those shoes if I’m honest. I think it’s like I say, people cannot underestimate the level of challenge that there is in this seat.”