Charles Leclerc leads in the second training session

Second part of the free training

Sunny. Dry. Air +27С, highway +35…32С

In the first practice, all teams except AlphaTauri had young pilots behind the wheel, and in the second practice the main racers took the wheel. The last Grand Prix took place on a circuit known to everyone and was of great importance for many teams in terms of position in the constructors’ championship and prize payouts.

In the tenth minute the session was stopped with red flags – Carlos Sainz crashed into the barrier at high speed. The Abu Dhabi circuit is one of the safest, but coming out of their third corner the Ferrari spun and was thrown into the barrier. Carlos himself got out of the cockpit and the Scuderia mechanics will have to get to work – the left side of the car was badly damaged.

It has become dark. It took time to replace the protective barrier blocks. The pause continued. Just half an hour later the racers were able to get back on track – and almost immediately Nico Hulkenberg crashed the car exiting the first corner – he spun onto the curb and was thrown into the wall. The red flags have appeared again. This time the car was quickly evacuated.

Charles Leclerc led the protocol and completed a lap in 1:24.804. The top ten fits within five tenths.

Results of the second session

First part of the free training

Sunny. Dry. Air +29C, highway +42C

The regulations oblige teams to train young riders twice per season. Everyone postponed it until the last minute, so during the first training of the last stage of the season there were ten substitutions at the same time.

At Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton was replaced by Frederic Vesti. Robert Schwartzman took over the wheel from Charles Leclerc at Ferrari. At McLaren, Lando Norris gave the car to Pato O’Ward, at Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso gave the car to Felipe Drugovich. Jack Duhan returned to the wheel of the Alpine, replacing Esteban Ocon. At Williams, Zach O’Sullivan took over the wheel of Alex Albon’s car. Theo Pourcher replaced Guanyu Zhou at Alfa Romeo and at Haas Oliver Berman took over the wheel of Nico Hulkenberg’s car. Jake Dennis replaces Max Verstappen at Red Bull, while Isaac Hajjar replaces Sergio Perez.

The tire makers brought the softest rubber compounds to the podium: C3, C4 and C5 in Hard, Medium and Soft roles. Many rode with aerodynamic sensors and evaluated new products for the next season.

Sargent and Duane almost caused a crash in Turn 16. Logan drove slowly around the track, Jack tried to overtake him along the inside radius, but Sargent did not see this and drove over him into the pits. Only Duane’s reaction made it possible to avoid a collision. The stewards will review this incident after the session.

George Russell topped the time list with a lap time of 1:26.072.

Results of the first session