Max Verstappen used hypersoft tyres to lead a Red Bull one-two in opening practice for the Formula 1 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Verstappen enjoyed a comfortable advantage over team-mate Daniel Ricciardo to top the practice one times by almost half a second.
The Dutchman burst clear in the second half of the session on a 1m38.491s that left him 0.454s clear of Ricciardo, while Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was the only other driver to lap within a second of Verstappen.
Red Bull’s one-two was earned as the team completed two sets of fresh hypersoft runs, while Mercedes and Ferrari switched from the softest-available compound to the hardest for the second half of the session.
Bottas used supersofts to lap 0.961s slower than Verstappen, but outpaced world champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton by under a tenth.
Hamilton made a modest improvement on supersofts, having led the running early on using hypersofts.
While the Mercedes drivers were able to make gains on the hardest of the three Pirelli compounds in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari did not improve.
That allowed Esteban Ocon to steal into fifth place for Racing Point Force India and Kevin Magnussen to take sixth for Haas.
Ocon was 1.6s off the pace, just over a tenth quicker than Magnussen, with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel relegated to seventh and eighth.
Their early hypersoft efforts stood as their best times despite the Ferraris conducting laps on supersofts that were not part of a long run.
Renault’s Carlos Sainz Jr and the second Haas of Romain Grosjean completed the top 10.
The 90-minute session passed with minimal drama, although Marcus Ericsson caused yellow flags with a half-spin in his Sauber exiting Turn 1 early on and slid nose-first into the inside barrier.
Newly-confirmed 2019 Williams race driver and F1 returnee Robert Kubica completed the 20 runners, standing in for the driver he will replace full-time next year Sergey Sirotkin.
Kubica lapped 4.5s off the pace, 1.5s slower than Lance Stroll, but had already made clear on Thursday he would not be pursuing lap times in practice and would instead complete evaluation work for next season.
FP1 times
Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1m38.491s | – | 27 |
2 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m38.945s | 0.454s | 19 |
3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m39.452s | 0.961s | 29 |
4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m39.543s | 1.052s | 26 |
5 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 1m40.102s | 1.611s | 26 |
6 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1m40.235s | 1.744s | 21 |
7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m40.417s | 1.926s | 24 |
8 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m40.453s | 1.962s | 21 |
9 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 1m40.588s | 2.097s | 21 |
10 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m40.663s | 2.172s | 24 |
11 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso/Honda | 1m40.671s | 2.180s | 17 |
12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1m41.023s | 2.532s | 24 |
13 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m41.075s | 2.584s | 23 |
14 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso/Honda | 1m41.137s | 2.646s | 26 |
15 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 1m41.493s | 3.002s | 22 |
16 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m41.662s | 3.171s | 24 |
17 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m41.928s | 3.437s | 22 |
18 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Renault | 1m42.114s | 3.623s | 22 |
19 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Renault | 1m42.313s | 3.822s | 16 |
20 | Robert Kubica | Williams/Mercedes | 1m42.992s | 4.501s | 26 |