F1 Grand Prix practice results: Hamilton fastest in Abu Dhabi

His title rival Max Verstappen of Red Bull was quickest in FP1 but Hamilton set the fastest time of the day in FP2 at 1m23.691s.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix FP1 results: Verstappen fastest from Bottas

What happened in Free Practice 1?

First practice took place in daytime, meaning it was not fully representative of either qualifying or the race, both of which will occur in cooler conditions of the early evening.

Verstappen set the early pace on soft tyres at 1m26.463s before Hamilton topped it by a tenth and a half with 1m23.290s.

Verstappen stayed out and dipped under the 1m26s barrier with a 1m25.602s, while Hamilton got to within 0.218s in P2. Verstappen then went even faster, producing 1m25.300s after 20 minutes of the session, with Hamilton working down to within a quarter of a second.

Hamilton ran again on new softs, improving to 1m25.355s – 0.055s off Verstappen at that point – but Max unleashed 1m25.009s on his second run, which remained the quickest time of the session.

Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) improved to 1m25.205s to take second from Hamilton, who was 0.346s off Verstappen – but Lewis did set the fastest first and third sectors overall with a lap that was deleted for exceeding track limits.

Sergio Perez was just behind Hamilton in fourth, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri).

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix FP2 results: Hamilton fastest from Ocon

What happened in Free Practice 2?

As the sun began to set at the start of FP2, Hamilton set the early medium-tyred pace at 1m25.127s. Verstappen almost matched his time, but had it deleted for track limits. Max ran again and was 0.122s off Hamilton’s pace, until Lewis reset the bar at 1m24.126s – putting him almost a second clear.

Bottas hit the Turn 14 wall with his right-rear wheel, while Nicholas Latifi damaged the rear wing of his Williams during a spin at Turn 13. Following his wall clip, and a stop to check for damage, Bottas ran again – this time on soft tyres – and set a new P1 time of 1m24.083s.

Surprisingly, neither Hamilton (1m24.104s) nor Verstappen (1m24.332s) beat that on their first soft-tyred laps. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon then delivered an impressive 1m24.034s to top the session by 0.049s.

After multiple cool-down laps, Hamilton unleashed a lap of 1m23.691s – 0.641s clear of title rival Verstappen, who ended the session down in fourth behind Ocon and Bottas.

Perez was fifth quickest, ahead of Alonso and Tsunoda.

Just as the chequered flag flew, Kimi Raikkonen shunted at Turn 14, damaging three corners of his Alfa Romeo in his final F1 weekend.