The only two championship contenders to take part in first practice for this weekend’s title-deciding race ended the session at the top of the times.

A mere eight-thousandths of a second separated pace-setter Lando Norris from rival Max Verstappen. The same tiny gap over an 84-second lap also separated Verstappen from Charles Leclerc in third place.

Leclerc shared the track with his brother Arthur, as he did 12 months ago. But the Ferrari driver was unhappy with his car’s pace on high fuel at the end of the session and had a spin at turn five.

The first hour of running ended with five different cars inside the top five places. Behind the McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fourth-quickest for Mercedes, narrowly ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber.

Mercedes and Sauber were the only teams to field both their regular drivers in the session. Their rivals took advantage of the season’s final first practice session to fulfil the requirement to give opportunities to inexperienced drivers.

Ryo Hirakawa, making his fifth such appearance of the season and his fourth for Haas, was the quickest of the rookie practice drivers. He ended the session 11th overall, two tenths of a second off the team’s regular driver Oliver Bearman, though he had various technical problems to contend with.

Arvid Lindblad, whose F1 debut next year was confirmed by Racing Bulls this week, was 15th quickest as he took over Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull. Luke Browning was 18th for Williams after being forced to abandon his first run so a problem with his car’s radio could be repaired.

Aston Martin was the only team to run rookies in both its cars. The pair almost collided when Cian Shield arrived at turn three and found Jak Crawford in the middle of it. Crawford’s engineer acknowledged he failed to warn him in time.

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2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix first practice result

P. # Driver Team Model Time Gap Laps
1 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes MCL39 1’24.485 28
2 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda RBPT RB21 1’24.493 0.008 30
3 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF-25 1’24.501 0.016 28
4 12 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes W16 1’24.608 0.123 30
5 27 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari C45 1’24.629 0.144 28
6 63 George Russell Mercedes W16 1’24.733 0.248 29
7 5 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber-Ferrari C45 1’24.742 0.257 29
8 87 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari VF-25 1’24.759 0.274 14
9 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Williams-Mercedes FW47 1’24.771 0.286 27
10 43 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Renault A525 1’24.855 0.370 28
11 50 Ryo Hirakawa Haas-Ferrari VF-25 1’24.934 0.449 28
12 6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 02 1’24.977 0.492 31
13 61 Paul Aron Alpine-Renault A525 1’25.204 0.719 27
14 89 Pato O’Ward McLaren-Mercedes MCL39 1’25.246 0.761 28
15 36 Arvid Lindblad Red Bull-Honda RBPT RB21 1’25.256 0.771 26
16 39 Arthur Leclerc Ferrari SF-25 1’25.360 0.875 27
17 40 Ayumu Iwasa Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 02 1’25.475 0.990 30
18 46 Luke Browning Williams-Mercedes FW47 1’25.490 1.005 18
19 35 Jak Crawford Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR25 1’25.889 1.404 24
20 34 Cian Shields Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR25 1’26.432 1.947 22

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2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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