McLaren’s F1 title hopes rise as Ferrari’s take a hit in Abu Dhabi finale
Ferrari’s hopes of capturing the title of Formula One constructor since 2008 were severely undermined by Charles Leclerc’s 10-place grid drop and McLaren’s one-two performance in Friday practice for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
Ferrari then revealed they had changed the battery in Leclerc’s car, which automatically triggered a fine. Leclerc was the fastest in the opening day of the Yas Marina circuit.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was fastest in the floodlit second session, 0.234 quicker than his Australian teammate Oscar Piastri.
Ferrari are 21 points behind McLaren, who were last champions in 1998, with 44 still to be won in Sunday’s 24th and last race of the season with 2023 champions Red Bull out of the running.
McLaren ready to bounce on Ferrari’s slip
McLaren principal Andrea Stella, who was previously at Ferrari, said there was no sense of the pressure being off, however. “We talk about Charles Leclerc. We talk about Ferrari. It’s a very strong combination”, he said. “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”.
Leclerc lapped with a best time of one minute 24.321 seconds, with Norris 0.221 slower. Norris’s best lap in second practice was 1: 23.517.
Lewis Hamilton, the seven-times world champion, and teammate George Russell were in practice one for the sixth time, with Nico Hulkenberg, the team’s driver, coming in third overall, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari’s fourth-place finisher, and Leclerc, the sixth-place team.
Sunday’s race will be Hamilton’s last for Mercedes before joining Ferrari as Sainz’s replacement, with the Spaniard heading to Williams. Russell finished 13th, Hamilton was fifth, and Hamilton was in sixth place.
Pierre Gasly, a new Australian teammate, was fifth-fastest in session one while Esteban Ocon’s replacement, Jack Doohan, who had trained for his first race, was 19th.
Later, the pair placed 12th and 19th, respectively.
Franco Colapinto and Alex Albon, both of whom are struggling financially, will receive five place drops for mechanical changes from Williams, a team that is currently on a roll with a number of costly crashes that have resulted in them running out of spares.
Colapinto, who will hand over his seat to Sainz for next season, hit a kerb and damaged his car’s floor in the second session.
Abu Dhabi GP hosts an F1 first
In a first for the team, Leclerc and Arthur (18th) joined their younger brothers in Sainz’s Ferrari for the opening session.
In the afternoon session, six of the ten teams were required to give their teams track time by having a young driver driving one of their vehicles.
Japan’s Ryo Hirakawa replaced Piastri, Isack Hadjar drove quadruple champion Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, and Felipe Drugovich was in Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin.
At RB, Ayumu Iwasa replaced Luke Browning and fellow-Japanese Yuki Tsunoda, and Ayumu Iwasa replaced them.
Verstappen, the race winner last year’s winner, returned for practice two and placed 17th behind teammate Sergio Perez, who had been the subject of a heated argument with Russell that has been the talk of the paddock.
