What the teams said – Friday in Abu Dhabi

McLaren

Piastri sat out for O’Ward in the opening session, but observed proceedings closely from the Pit Wall. He watched his deputy have a decent session, keeping things tidy on both the medium and soft tyres. But more important was watching Norris go fast – the McLaren clearly has speed to burn here, as the Championship leader topped the session. Norris was even quicker in the second session, topping the standings by a healthy margin to get his weekend off to the dream start. But Piastri struggled, making a mistake on both his flying laps on the soft tyre. As such, he was left without a representative time on the C5 rubber, which is far from ideal on such a crucial weekend.

Lando Norris - FP1: 1:24.485, P1; FP2: 1:23.083, P1

"A decent first day in Abu Dhabi, although there's still a little bit more to find in the car. I'm not completely happy with it just yet, but overall, it's been a positive day. Nothing to smile about just yet, as we know it gets closer as the weekend goes on, but a good starting point."

Oscar Piastri - FP2: 1:23.763, P11

“A shorter day for me today, but lots of learning in FP2. The car was in a good window, we just need to make a few tweaks overnight. I was finding my feet towards the end, so we’ll review overnight and head into Quali day in a strong position.”

Pato O’Ward - FP1: 1:25.246, P14

"It was exciting to be back in the car and help the team put our best foot forward, going into what is probably the most important Sunday of the year for the team with Lando and Oscar competing for the Championship. We completed the run plan well, helping Oscar set up the car. Thanks to the team for the opportunity this afternoon, I’m excited to get back in the car on Tuesday for the test.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“A reasonable start to the final weekend of the season, completing the plan across both Free Practice sessions as we intended.

“Oscar was back at the wheel for FP2 and was able to find his references in terms of single lap performance, high fuel running and the tyre behaviour. I’m sure he will be completely ready going into tomorrow when the sessions become competitive.

“Lando was a bit more comfortable in the second session, but as always, Abu Dhabi, the last race of the year, shows that the field is extremely tight. Therefore, we appreciate the competition and need to make sure that we continue to work hard to execute a perfect weekend.

“Well done to Pato for his second session in the MCL39, completing our fourth mandatory young driver appearance of the season. He drove very well, delivering all the information that we required to get the initial readings of the car.”

Red Bull

Verstappen pushed Norris very, very close in FP1, winding up just 0.008s back. But the Dutchman was not fully happy with his opening session, complaining that something felt broken on the car. As for Lindblad, he had a steady hour in Tsunoda’s car – even if he did say it felt like driving on ice out there. As the sun set, Verstappen found conditions more to his liking and once again finished behind Norris – albeit a little further back. He is in a really good position heading into the weekend, while Tsunoda needs to find some pace if he wants to make Q3 and help his team mate out tomorrow.

Max Verstappen - FP1: 1:24.493, P2; FP2: 1:23.446, P2

“It went pretty okay in our practice sessions. I was fairly happy with the car today, we just probably needed to be a little bit faster. We were in a decent window, but I think still think not quite quick enough. It seems like there is a decent gap that we need to close but we still need to work on the race pace, so let’s see how much we can find overnight. The ride has been tricky and the single laps and long runs need to be a bit better, but let’s see what we can do tomorrow."

Yuki Tsunoda - FP2: 1:24.303, P17

“I didn’t expect it to be this challenging to be honest, we are still very far away with the car and I don’t know exactly what is going on. We need to really look into things overnight because today felt like one of the worst practice sessions of the season. The car doesn’t feel very comfortable right now, I keep sliding around and we have to find out why and what is causing this issue. It’s not great right now, I hope we can get into a better place overnight to be able to perform tomorrow."

Arvid Lindblad - FP1: 1:25.256, P15

"I'd like to start off saying a huge thank you to Oracle Red Bull Racing for the opportunity once again in the car. It's always an amazing opportunity and a real pleasure to drive in Formula One, so I'm grateful for it. On the session itself, I'm not super happy with the way it went from my side. I felt that I could've done a better job and I'll go away from today with a few things to work on ahead of next year. Driving in both F1 and F2 this weekend has been something new for me, so there was a bit of a balancing act that came with it. Nevertheless, I hope that I got some good data for the Team that they can use for the rest of the weekend."

Gianpiero Lambiase, Head of Racing

“With Arvid, we used his time in FP1 to collect some data on a few set up parameters that we weren’t 100% convinced of in simulation. That was really useful and he provided some very consistent data to analyse and his feedback was generally aligned to what we were expecting. It was generally a productive day with Max: we focused a little bit less on single lap performance for high fuel sustainable running, which now gives us a bit more data heading into Sunday. I think that has been proven useful as the tyres were a little bit more vulnerable compared to what we were perhaps expecting. It looks like front right graining is a problem for the field, so we need to analyse how we improve the longevity of this tyre heading into Sunday. Degradation is a bit higher than expected, so whilst we thought it would have been a relatively straight forward one stop, there’s a question mark over that now. We really need to understand how many stops it is going to be and how we will look after our tyres. The mood in the Team is really good, it has been business as usual for us since we arrived and that is how we’ve approached the last nine or ten races since the shutdown. We’ll continue to do our thing and follow our process and the end result will look after itself. Max is doing well in the car and we will not give up until the chequered flag is waved."

Mercedes

Mercedes were able to field both their main drivers in FP1, with both looking fast to boot. The Silver Arrows certainly seem in the mix here, with Antonelli just shading Russell in the first session. Once the sun set, Russell found even more pace and radioed to say how good the car felt in the evening conditions. He wound up third and, interestingly, just 0.016s behind Verstappen on a day where tight margins between the top four teams were very evident. Antonelli finished in the top 10 as well, so Mercedes can be pleased with their opening day.

George Russell - FP1: 1:24.733, P6; FP2: 1:23.462, P3

"We didn’t start off the day in the best place in FP1, but we were able to improve the car for FP2. In the hot conditions of the day, the car doesn’t always feel at its nicest, but it improves once the sun goes down and the track cools a little. That certainly helped along with the changes we made between the sessions.

"It looks like it will be tight between the usual suspects at the front in qualifying tomorrow, but there could be some surprises in the mix including the Haas of Ollie Bearman and both Saubers who were quick today. We will have to execute well if we are to secure a good grid position. Equally, we’ve got work to do on our race pace; we will review tonight how we can improve that, and we will see where that leaves us on Sunday."

Kimi Antonelli - FP1: 1:24.608, P4; FP2: 1:23.750, P10

"I don’t think we quite showed our full potential today. We made improvements heading into FP2, but I made a small mistake on my best Soft tyre effort near the end of the lap and that left me P10. We’re definitely there in the mix near the front for qualifying, although the McLaren certainly looks like the car to beat after today. The gaps are very tight across the field; we will need to perform at our best if we are to secure a good grid position.

"Our long run in FP2 was much better than FP1 but we will look to improve the car further overnight so we can look ahead to race day with plenty of confidence. I am feeling good in the car though, looking forward to the rest of the weekend and to helping the team secure P2 in the Constructors’."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"George had already sat out both his FP1 sessions and Kimi is not required to do this given he is a rookie. That put us in the useful position of being one of only two teams with both race drivers in the car for the first hour of practice. This went reasonably smoothly with both getting to grips with the car. The single lap looked OK but there was more to find on the balance; overall though, the pace was about where we'd expect.

"Frustratingly, the long run was not good. The car was bouncing in the high-speed which was unsettling it. We therefore made some changes to improve both balance and bouncing going into the evening session. On the single lap, the car was still in a reasonable place but neither George nor Kimi put together a perfect effort. Whilst we took a step forward, the long run was still not where we wanted it to be. We were suffering from a bit too much graining and that's defining our pace. That should improve with more rubber being laid down but we'll also be looking at how we can change the car to improve this. Compared to recent Fridays, this has been more challenging so we'll be working hard overnight to try and find some solutions."

Ferrari

The Leclerc brothers took to the track in FP1, leading to the amusing moment where the elder brother spun at Turn 5, and Arthur used that opportunity to poke fun at his big bro – accusing him of practicing his burn outs for the crowd. When they actually knuckled down, Leclerc was quick over one lap but not happy with his car on longer runs. He fell down the order in FP2, meaning there is work to do for Ferrari overnight to extract more pace from their set-up. Hamilton was not happy either, as he finished 14th in his only session of the day.

Charles Leclerc - FP1: 1:24.501, P3; FP2: 1:23.658, P8

"FP1 was very special for me. Seeing my younger brother behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car with the Scuderia, and sharing the track with him for a practice session is something we dreamed of together since we were kids and it put a smile on my face.

"In terms of driving, it was a tricky Friday for us overall. We are missing something and are pushing to find where we can improve to be further ahead in tomorrow’s qualifying."

Lewis Hamilton - FP2: 1:23.939, P14

"It was great to see Arthur in the car this afternoon in FP1 and I was feeling good coming into FP2. The car proved challenging to drive and there is some work to do ahead of tomorrow to improve the feeling with the car. We’ll review the data tonight and work on the areas that can help us make a step forward for tomorrow’s sessions."

Arthur Leclerc - FP1: 1:25.360, P16

"I’m really happy with this FP1. It was a good session and we gathered important data for the team and the simulator group. Everything went well and the pace was strong. The Soft tyres were completely new to me, so I just tried to give it my best. Being on track together with my brother and the other Formula 1 drivers is always a great emotion. I want to thank the whole team for this opportunity."

Haas

Hirakawa was arguably the most impressive rookie in FP1, winding up just four and a half tenths off Norris despite not running the soft tyre. As for Bearman, he suffered a suspected hydraulics leak midway through FP1 and, after being sent back out, he was then called back to the pits to end his session early with a sensor problem. But Bearman had a much better time of it in FP2, lapping in the fourth fastest car after describing it as “insane” and reiterating how happy he was with the VF-25. Ocon was further down the order, as he continues to struggle to extract the same pace over one lap as his team mate.

Esteban Ocon –FP2: 1:23.958, P16

“It doesn’t seem to be working today – I can’t get the car to do one single lap. We’re half a second off every lap we do, so there’s a lot to look through. We can’t get the car to be how I’d like it to be.”

Oliver Bearman - FP1: 1:24.759, P8; FP2: 1:23.501, P4

“We had a good car underneath us in FP1, and I had a great feeling. On the first run I had a bit of understeer, but I could feel that the car wanted to go fast. In FP1, I didn’t get to do a lot of the session as we had a small issue, but I did one lap on the medium compound and we were really competitive, and that carried over to this afternoon. I think the key point is that it’s very tight out there, we were four-tenths away, but five-tenths can put you outside the top 10. It’s going to be important to optimize everything tomorrow.”

Ryō Hirakawa - FP1: 1:24.934, P11

“That was my fourth FP1 session of the season and I’ve learned so much, so thank you to both MoneyGram Haas F1 Team and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing for the opportunity this year. I think it was a pretty decent session, and finally I got to drive around a track I’ve already tested on in a Formula 1 car. I was able to push from lap 1 knowing the layout, able to give comprehensive feedback, and follow a positive trend in lap time. We were the team that put mediums on for our fastest lap, so I think we’re really competitive. I think we have a lot to analyze now, but we’re looking good.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“Ryō was back in the car for FP1, and I think he did a very good job, especially on the low-fuel runs. In the previous couple of outings, he wasn’t very happy with the brakes, but today he was. It goes to show, when you get that element right, that’s the performance he can provide. Ollie’s been happy with the car from the get-go, and looking at his lap time, he’s very confident. We have some fine-tuning to do, but that’s a strong place to start from. Esteban missed FP1 but was back in the car for FP2, and he’s struggling with the brakes and with entry stability, so we need to find a better compromise for him.”

Kick Sauber

Kick Sauber were also able to field their fulltime drivers in FP1, and as such made a good start to the weekend. Both drivers wound up in the top 10, with Hulkenberg looking fast on the soft tyres. That trend continued in FP2, Hulkenberg finishing right the way up the order, with Bortoleto hot on his heels. The Brazilian was also involved in one amusing radio exchange, when he was baulked by “the big Leclerc” in the second session – his Race Engineer finding a unique way to differentiate between the two Leclerc brothers.

Nico Hulkenberg - FP1: 1:24.629, P5; FP2: 1:23.550, P5

“It was a clean Friday for us, with no interruptions or problems on our side. It felt positive out there, and it’s nice to carry that good feeling into the weekend. Now, it’s about fine-tuning and dialling out the last little bits as we look to keep this momentum over the next 48 hours.”

Gabriel Bortoleto - FP1: 1:24.742, P7; FP2: 1:23.570, P6

“Overall, today has been quite positive. There’s obviously still some fine-tuning to do ahead of tomorrow, but it was quite productive as we focused on understanding the balance in both high-fuel and low-fuel runs. It’s encouraging to see our car in those positions, even though it’s obviously still only Friday. We’ll keep pushing and aim to maximise our performance in qualifying tomorrow.”

Racing Bulls

Iwasa had a quiet session in Lawson’s car, leaving the majority of the work to Hadjar. The Frenchman looked quick early on before fading as the session wore on, and was left frustrated by traffic too. He improved in the second session, winding up in the top 10 despite once again getting a little frustrated by some of his colleagues. As for Lawson, he was a bit further down the order as he took his time getting adjusted to the track after sitting out FP1.

Isack Hadjar - FP1: 1:24.977, P12; FP2: 1:23.657, P7

“Overall, it was a good day here in Abu Dhabi. Honestly, I thought it would have been a bit better, as both Saubers and Ollie look really fast and ahead of us. We know we need to find some pace, and we’ll work on that overnight. We expect a real fight tomorrow in Qualifying.”

Liam Lawson - FP2: 1:24.474, P18

“FP2 was a little bit tricky as we missed FP1 this morning, so there's naturally a little bit of catching up to do. There's more work needed than we were expecting, so we'll get to it tonight and hopefully come back with a stronger car tomorrow. FP3 won't really be representative of Quali given how warm it will be, so the main thing will be focusing on learnings from today. Overall, as a team we're looking quite quick, so it's now a case of really fine tuning my car."

Mattia Spini, Chief Race Engineer

“Abu Dhabi holds special significance with it being the final race of the season, but in terms of set up, there’s nothing that stands out as you need to be strong in all areas. We ran Ayumu in Liam's car for FP1, he had a clean session and collected valuable data for the team. Isack was not as satisfied with car balance on his fastest lap as he was on the Hard compound, we therefore used two sets of Soft tyres in FP2 to optimise Qualifying preparation as it’s the closest Free Practice session to Qualifying in terms of track conditions. He was more satisfied with car balance, he just requested improvements in a couple of corners. Liam used one set of Mediums and one set of Softs, like the majority of the field. He was not fully comfortable with the car in either short or long-run configuration, so we have work to do tonight to improve his pace. Again, we were able to cover good mileage on high fuel, gathering more data for Sunday's race.”

Williams

Browning was in Albon’s car in FP1, but he soon experienced some radio static issues, after he failed to hear about an approaching Hadjar and slightly got in his rival’s way. The team brought him in to fix that radio, before sending him back out. It was not a straightforward session for Sainz either, who seemed to struggle with some braking problems. Roll on FP2, and this time it was Albon who struggled with some issues – complaining about his engine. As such, Williams have some work to do overnight to get on top of the gremlins so that both drivers can fight their way up the order tomorrow.

Alex Albon - FP2: 1:23.950, P15

"Honestly, it's not been a bad day but there's little fires everywhere. I only did the one session today, but the car feels reasonably good. Degradation is much higher than we all expected so I think that will make Sunday interesting as before the event it was a clear one stop, and now it's not. There's a lot of grip out there but the front is sliding, and you can see everyone grabbing their front tyre. Tomorrow I just want to have a smooth FP3 and then we'll see how it goes, but I do know it's very tight; I reckon half a second is the difference in pretty much the whole field right now. So, it's all fun and exciting."

Carlos Sainz - FP1: 1:24.771, P9; FP2: 1:23.872, P13

"It was an extremely tight session today. I think we’re in the fight, but it looks like Haas and Sauber are leading the midfield at the moment. We were quite surprised with the high degradation during the long runs, so it’s something for us to look at. For tomorrow, we’ll try to take a step forward and fight our way into Q3. It will come down to whoever can put the lap together, so maximum focus."

Luke Browning - FP1: 1:25.490, P18

"Overall, a really positive FP1 session and great to get more mileage in an F1 car. It’s always an added challenge switching between F1 and F2 on the same day, but I’m enjoying being out there on track and learning how the current F1 car works. Now my focus is back on F2 as we close out this season, before getting my final opportunity to drive the FW47 this year at the post-season test!"

Aston Martin

Alonso and Stroll sat out FP1 for Crawford and Shields. Those two nearly had a coming together, with Shields trying to get off the racing line as Crawford approached at speed but not quite managing to do so. When Alonso and Stroll jumped back in for FP2 they kept their session clean and tidy, with the Spaniard just cracking the top 10 on a night where the gaps behind Norris were incredibly tight, with just three tenths of a second between Verstappen in P2 and Antonelli in P10.

Fernando Alonso - FP2: 1:23.708, P9

"With only one session today, we quickly had to learn how the car felt, and everything was as expected.

"The circuit is tricky to balance, but we will continue to work throughout the weekend and try to secure some points.

"It was also great to see Jak and Cian in the car this morning, learning while also gathering valuable data for the team."

Lance Stroll - FP2: 1:23.832, P12

"Today was all about getting into the rhythm at Yas Marina Circuit and building confidence with the car.

"The car felt okay in Free Practice Two, but we have a few things to work on over night and some areas we can improve on, and then we'll see how competitive we can be tomorrow."

Jak Crawford - FP1: 1:25.889, P19

"It was a really good, productive session.

"We tried some different things with the setup of the AMR25 and everything went smoothly.

"I drove here last year in the post-season test, so I had some good reference points and I felt I got up to speed quickly."

Alpine

Aron was in for Gasly, as he continued his development as one of Alpine’s reserve drivers. That left Colapinto to really push the A525 in FP1, which he did with decent success. But when the lights came on for FP2, the Alpine faded to the back of the field. Neither driver was able to extract much pace out there, so making it out of Q1 tomorrow will be the first challenge for the French team.

Pierre Gasly - FP2: 1:24.963, P20

“It was a difficult Free Practice 2 on our side today. We are going to need to find a lot more performance if we are to challenge for the top ten tomorrow when it counts. I think we have some evidence to explain where we are lacking and I am confident we can improve for tomorrow. There were a few things that did not work as expected. The balance was just too inconsistent and we seemed to lack grip across both cars in the second session. We will see what we can do and we will give it one final push this weekend as we close out the season.”

Franco Colapinto - FP1: 1:24.855, P10; FP2: 1:24.771, P19

“Today wasn't the easiest day and a difficult one to fully understand, as it felt like we took a step backwards from the afternoon to the evening session. We started the day well with a good feeling in the car, ending up not far off on the timesheet and more comparable to the teams around us. The second session was more difficult so we need to understand why that is and how we can improve for Qualifying. As we did in Qatar and in previous races, we've shown that as a team we can keep improving as the weekend goes on. We just need to sit down with the engineers and go over the data this evening and target a more positive Free Practice 3 where hopefully we can test and refine a few things.”

Paul Aron - FP1: 1:25.204, P13

“I am very grateful to the team for the Free Practice 1 outings this year. Today was another successful session where we were able to complete the whole run plan and work through some good set-up items. Hopefully that can all be beneficial to the team for the remainder of the weekend. Even though this was my fifth FP1 of the year, the third with the team, it certainly still brings its challenges, especially as it has been over one month since I last drove. In general, I was happy with the pace but we did not quite put it together on the Soft run so there is definitely room to improve. Now I will be watching and supporting closely for the remainder of the weekend and hopefully we can have a successful one as a team.”

Pirelli

Simone Berra, Pirelli Chief Engineer

“The times on the first day of Abu Dhabi are in line with simulations: about half a second faster compared to last year. In both sessions we found some instances of graining, mainly on the front-right, which has the effect of slightly accelerating degradation. In this context, the most consistent race tyres seem to be the medium and hard, whereas the soft appears to be more suited to a flying lap.

"One factor to bear in mind though is track evolution. The support races are laying down rubber onto a surface that was initially quite dirty, improving grip. This means that graining could well be reduced in the next couple of days, putting the soft C5 back into play.

"From what we just saw today, a one-stop strategy seems to be most likely. Nonetheless, as the weekend goes on, a two-stopper could also become a possibility. It’s not by chance that both McLarens and the Aston Martin of Alonso did not run the hard at all in FP2, saving a new set.

"An extra set of hard C3 tyres during the race gives more options in terms of strategy, especially if there’s a safety car, and delivers performance very similar to the medium C4. The performance gap between the C3 and C4 is currently around two tenths of a second, while there’s a bigger gap between medium and soft of about seven to eight tenths of a second.”