F1 – Leclerc quickest in FP1 in Abu Dhabi ahead of Norris but grid penalty awaits 

Charles Leclerc beat Lando Norris to the top of the timesheet in the opening free practice session for the season-closing 2024 FIA Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but ahead of the Constructors’ Championship showdown between Ferrari and McLaren, Leclerc’s weekend hopes were dealt a blow with the news that the Ferrari driver will have to take a 10-place grid penalty on Sunday. 

Leclerc, on Soft compound tyres, set his quickest time of 1:24.542 after being restricted to the garage for the first half of the session due to a problem with this SF-24. And it later emerged that Ferrari has fitted a third energy store (ES) of the season to his car, exceeding the permitted allocation. He will therefore take a grid penalty for Sunday’s grand prix. 

Behind Leclerc and Norris, Lewis Hamilton opened his final weekend as a Mercedes driver with third place, just under half a second off Leclerc’s P1 time and just ahead of team-mate George Russell and Alpine driver Pierre Gasly. Seven-time world champion Hamilton moves to Ferrari in 2025 in place of Carlos Sainz who will join Williams. 

Sainz was one of six drivers to give up the FP1 outing to a rookie or reserve driver with the best of those being Aston Martin reserve Felipe Drugovic who sat in for Lance Stroll. The Brazilian slotted into place on the timesheet behind Kevin Magnussen, who finished trailed Williams’ Franco Colapinto and Haas team-mate Nico Hülkenberg in the final order. 

Sergio Pérez took 10th place for Red Bull Racing, ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, RB’s Liam Lawson and Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, but the Mexican’s team-mate, Max Verstappen spent the opening session on the Red Bull pit wall watching the sometimes turbulent progress of Isack Hadjar who had taken the champion’s seat for the session. 

Hadjar, who is also contending for the FIA Formula 2 title this weekend, spent the early part of the session battling a problem with the clearance of his steering wheel and then later was baulked by another rookie, Luke Browning who was running in place of Alex Albon at Williams. 

Hadjar ended a not entirely smooth session in P15 behind McLaren’s Ryo Hirakawa, who spent most of the session conducting aero work before putting in a Soft tyre run later in the hour. The Toyota World Endurance Championship driver will also drive for Haas in the post-weekend Yas Marina test. 

Behind Hadjar, Zhou Guanyu took P16, though the Chinese driver, competing in his final grand prix for the foreseeable future this weekend, complained of understeer in slow corners throughout the session. 

RB’s Ayumu Iwasa, and Sainz’s replacement Arthur Leclerc, brother of Charles, were two tenths down on Zhou, while Alpine’s new driver Jack Doohan and Williams’ Browning completed the order.

2024 FIA Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 11:24.321 19 225.466
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 11:24.542 0.221 25 224.877
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 11:24.806 0.485 27 224.177
4 George Russell Mercedes 11:25.165 0.844 27 223.232
5 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 11:25.333 1.012 24 222.793
6 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 11:25.373 1.052 23 222.688
7 Franco Colapinto Williams/Mercedes 11:25.382 1.061 24 222.665
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 11:25.444 1.123 25 222.503
9 Felipe Drugovich Aston Martin/Mercedes 11:25.471 1.150 22 222.433
10 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 11:25.483 1.162 26 222.402
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 11:25.504 1.183 23 222.347
12 Liam Lawson RB/Honda RBPT 11:25.563 1.242 27 222.194
13 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 11:25.611 1.290 23 222.069
14 Ryo Hirakawa McLaren/Mercedes 11:25.874 1.553 19 221.389
15 Isack Hadjar Red Bull/Honda RBPT 11:25.877 1.556 22 221.381
16 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 11:25.921 1.600 23 221.268
17 Ayumu Iwasa RB/Honda RBPT 11:26.121 1.800 24 220.754
18 Arthur Leclerc Ferrari 11:26.179 1.858 22 220.605
19 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 11:26.304 1.983 24 220.286
20 Luke Browning Williams/Mercedes 11:26.519 2.198 22 219.739