Practice report
Formula 1 Abu Dhabi GP
F1 Abu Dhabi GP: Leclerc leads Norris in opening practice
Leclerc ends first practice on top despite missing the opening half of the session
Jake Boxall-Legge
Edited: Dec 6, 2024, 7:34 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Charles Leclerc was fastest in Formula 1's final FP1 session of 2024 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, two tenths clear of McLaren's Lando Norris.
Ferrari driver Leclerc was stranded in the garage for the opening 25 minutes of the session with a battery issue, but immediately picked up the pace when he got out on track.
After getting a few laps on the board, he took aim at Norris' then-benchmark of a 1m24.542s, and set a 1m24.321s on the soft tyres to vault to the top of the leaderboard.
The opening session of the Yas Marina round featured multiple reserve and young drivers as the teams fulfilled the requirements for running inexperienced drivers before the season was out - including Leclerc's brother Arthur, who took over Carlos Sainz's Ferrari seat for the FP1 session.
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was third quickest, having been on top of the order at the conclusion of the medium-tyre runs during the opening half-hour of the session, ahead of team-mate George Russell.
Alpine's Pierre Gasly continued his impressive form and claimed the fifth-fastest time, 0.04s clear of Nico Hulkenberg's Haas. The two Haas drivers, who leave the team at the end of the season, were split by Franco Colapinto in seventh as Kevin Magnussen ended up eighth.
Felipe Drugovich was the highest-placed rookie in the session, setting a time on softs just moments behind Fernando Alonso to go 0.033s faster than his illustrious Aston Martin stablemate. Sergio Perez was between them in 10th in the lead Red Bull.
Liam Lawson (RB) and Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) were ahead of McLaren's Ryo Hirakawa, who spent most of the session conducting aero work before getting a chance on soft tyres later into the run-time. The Toyota World Endurance Championship driver will also drive for Haas in the post-weekend Yas Marina test.
F2 title contender Isack Hadjar, driving Max Verstappen's Red Bull, was 15th fastest. The Frenchman was a consistent presence on the radio having become frustrated by F3 champion Luke Browning being ahead of him on two occasions.
Hadjar was just half a tenth up on Zhou Guanyu, who struggled throughout the session with understeer in the slower corners.
Ayumu Iwasa (RB) and Arthur Leclerc (Ferrari) were two tenths down on Zhou, while Alpine's new driver Jack Doohan and Williams' Browning completed the order.
Abu Dhabi GP - FP1 results:
Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info
1
-
4
Main Information Additional Data
1
-
2
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval km/h 1 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
Ferrari Ferrari 19
1'24.321
225.466 2 L. Norris McLaren 4
McLaren Mercedes 25
+0.221
1'24.542
0.221 224.877 3 L. Hamilton Mercedes 44
Mercedes Mercedes 27
+0.485
1'24.806
0.264 224.177 4 G. Russell Mercedes 63
Mercedes Mercedes 27
+0.844
1'25.165
0.359 223.232 5 P. Gasly Alpine 10
Alpine Renault 24
+1.012
1'25.333
0.168 222.793 6 N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27
Haas Ferrari 23
+1.052
1'25.373
0.040 222.688 7 F. Colapinto Williams 43
Williams Mercedes 24
+1.061
1'25.382
0.009 222.665 8 K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20
Haas Ferrari 25
+1.123
1'25.444
0.062 222.503 9 F. Drugovich Aston Martin Racing 34
Aston Martin Mercedes 22
+1.150
1'25.471
0.027 222.433 10 S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11
Red Bull Red Bull 26
+1.162
1'25.483
0.012 222.402 11 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
Aston Martin Mercedes 23
+1.183
1'25.504
0.021 222.347 12 L. Lawson RB 30
RB Red Bull 27
+1.242
1'25.563
0.059 222.194 13 V. Bottas Sauber 77
Sauber Ferrari 23
+1.290
1'25.611
0.048 222.069 14 R. Hirakawa McLaren 28
McLaren Mercedes 19
+1.553
1'25.874
0.263 221.389 15 I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing 37
Red Bull Honda 22
+1.556
1'25.877
0.003 221.381 16 Z. Guanyu Sauber 24
Sauber Ferrari 23
+1.600
1'25.921
0.044 221.268 17 A. Iwasa RB 40
RB Honda 24
+1.800
1'26.121
0.200 220.754 18 A. Leclerc Ferrari 39
Ferrari Ferrari 22
+1.858
1'26.179
0.058 220.605 19 J. Doohan Alpine 61
Alpine Renault 24
+1.983
1'26.304
0.125 220.286 20
L. Browning Williams
46 
Williams Mercedes 22
+2.198
1'26.519
0.215 219.739 View full results
Photos from Abu Dhabi GP Practice
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
Formula 1
54
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Chinese GP to remain on F1 calendar until 2030 after new deal
Next article Leclerc to take 10-place grid drop for Abu Dhabi GP
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jake Boxall-Legge
FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned
Latest news
NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
14 h
NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 14 h
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
14 h
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP 15 h
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe