F1 Abu Dhabi GP: George Russell sets FP1 pace as 10 rookies fill in for Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and co
Russell was faster than Aston Martin reserve Felipe Drugovich, who impressively got within 0.288 seconds of the Mercedes driver’s benchmark as he stood in for Fernan💃do Alonso.
Drღugovich was one of 10 rookies taking part in FP1 at the Yas Marina Circuit to fulfil each team’s requirement to run a rookie in each of their cars during the season.&n𓆉bsp;
AlphaTauri were the only team not tꦇo field a rookie as they have already completed the mand🍒atory rookie requirement for 2023.
Daܫniel Ricciardo was third-quickest in his upgraded AlphaTauri, while Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas wa🌳s fourth, ahead of Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin.
McLaren’s Oscar 🌠Piastri was sixth-fastest ahead of the Ferrari pair of Carlos Sainz and Robert Shwartzman, who was just 0.027s off the Spaniard in his latest FP1 outing.
Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out tꦺhe top-10 for Alpine and AlphaTauri respec𒆙tively.
F2 frontr🎶unner Frederik Vesti,ꩵ driving Hamilton’s Mercedes, was the next fastest rookie in 12th, behind Logan Sargeant’s Williams.
Jack Doohan was 13th for Alpine, ahead of fellow rookie runners Theo Pourchaire (Aᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚlfa Romeo), Pato O’Ward (McLaren), Jake Dennis and Isack Hadjar (both Red Bull).
Zak O’Sullivan was 18th fastest on his F1 practice debut for Williams, ahead of Haas pair Kevin Magnussen and Ollie Bearman, who ꦏwas slowest of all in his second FP1 appearance.
The full🌞-time drivers who sat out 🌜of the first session will be back in their cars for FP2, which takes place in far more representative conditions.
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