Abu Dhabi GP: Hamilton leads a Mercedes 1-2 in Practice 1

Mercedes continued their momentum from Brazil as Lewis Hamilton led a 1-2 in Practice 1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion set the pace with a 1m26.633s to finish two-tenths clear of teammate George Russell on a weekend where Hamilton needs to win to avoid his first winless season in Formula 1.

One of the notable battles to be resolved at Yas Marina is for second in the Drivers’ Championship with Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez tied on points after Interlagos.

And it was the Monegasque driver with the early edge in third, less than a tenth ahead of Checo in fourth.

Of the eight young drivers taking part in FP1, Red Bull junior Liam Lawson was the fastest in fifth, just a quarter of a second slower than Perez in the RB18.

The start of an emotional final race weekend with P6 for Sebastian Vettel, ahead of another youngster in Ferrari’s Robert Schwartzman in seventh.

Daniel Ricciardo, another driver potentially heading into the sunset after Abu Dhabi, was eighth as Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon completed the top 10.

Pierre Gasly finished 11th with Esteban Ocon between himself and AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda in 13th.

The not-so-young Robert Kubica enjoyed an outing with Alfa Romeo and finished 14th ahead of 2023 Williams hopeful Logan Sargeant, who recovered from a spin at Turn 1 to claim another crucial superlicence point.

Kevin Magnussen was 16th just ahead of Haas third driver Pietro Fittipaldi in 17th. IndyCar star Pato O’Ward had a tricky session en route to 18th for McLaren.

Alpine Jack Doohan was 19th as F2 champion Felipe Drugovich made his F1 race weekend debut for Aston Martin in 20th.

Full results from Practice 1 can be seen below: