Abu Dhabi GP, Practice One: Max Verstappen leads Red Bull one-two
Max ahead of Ricciardo, 1s clear of Mercedes; Final F1 weekend of the season; Sunday's race starts at 1.10pm, live on Sky F1
Friday 23 November 2018 12:46, UK
Red Bull have made a flying start to the final weekend of the F1 season with Max Verstappen leading a dominant one-two in Abu Dhabi GP first practice.
Verstappen, unlucky not to win the previous race in Brazil, was in a league of his own in the opening Yas Marina session, finishing four tenths of a second clear of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
More impressively, Verstappen was almost a full second faster than the nearest non-Red Bull challenger, with Valtteri Bottas a distant third and just ahead of Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes.
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Hamilton, sporting a Number 1 on the front of his W09 instead of the usual 44 after his and Mercedes' double title triumph, struggled for grip and could not get close to Verstappen.
The Dutchman's benchmark, a 1:38.491, was set on hypersoft tyres, and Red Bull's early superiority is somewhat of a surprise given they have never even claimed an Abu Dhabi podium since the hybrid era began in 2014.
Ferrari appeared to be focusing on developments for their 2019 car - they opened the session with a large aero rake bolted onto their car and Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel finished almost two seconds off the pace in seventh and eighth.
Replacing them in the top six were Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen, who shone for Force India and Haas respectively.
But there were far from smooth starts to the weekend for Marcus Ericsson and Pierre Gasly.
Ericsson lost control of his Sauber over the AstroTurf on the exit of Turn One and span into the barrier, breaking a front wing in the process, while Gasly's session ended early with smoke pouring out the back of his Honda-powered Toro Rosso.
Robert Kubica, fresh from the announcement confirming him on the 2019 grid, replaced Sergey Sirotkin in the Williams for Practice One and propped up the timesheets, though team boss Claire Williams insisted the Pole was in a different programme to temporary team-mate Lance Stroll. who was 15th.
Kubica was just behind 19th-placed Fernando Alonso, who is leaving the sport at the end of the weekend and was running in a special one-off McLaren livery.
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