The season finale of Formula 1 for 2025 take to the Marina Bay Circuit for the F1 Abu Dhabi GP. It is the first time in 15 years 3 drivers will be going head to head for the Championship. Lando Norris currently leads the Championship, with Max Verstappen in P2 and Oscar Piastri in P3, with 16 points seperating the three. This weekend begins with FP1, where there is 9 rookie drivers taking place in the F1 Abu Dhabi GP FP1 session. This session is the least representative of the weekend, with both Qualifying and the Grand Prix after dusk on Saturday and Sunday.
What rookie drivers will be in FP1?
Pato O’Ward will step in at McLaren for Oscar Piastri, marking his second appearance of the season for the team. His earlier outing came in Mexico City, where he finished P13 while driving Lando Norris’ car. Arthur Leclerc will also be on track for Ferrari, joining his brother Charles as he takes over Lewis Hamilton’s seat. The Leclerc siblings made history in the same session 12 months ago by becoming the first brothers to compete as teammates in a session. Arvid Lindblad will take part as well, filling in for Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull after being confirmed earlier in the week as a Racing Bulls driver for the 2026 Formula 1 season.
There are another 3 current Formula 2 drivers taking part. Luke Browning will drive for Williams, while both Jak Crawford and Cian Shields will run for Aston Martin. Ayumu Iwasa, Ryo Hirakawa, and Paul Aron are the remaining rookies participating in the session.
Green lights for FP1
Russell was the final driver to leave the pits, eventually heading out after the rest of the field had begun their initial runs. Most drivers started the session on hard tyres, while Norris, Hülkenberg, Colapinto, and Shields opted for mediums. O’Ward was the only driver on softs.
Verstappen immediately went to the top of the leaderboard with a 1:27.130. The track was still dusty in the early stages, as it had yet to properly rubber in.
Browning appeared to get in Hadjar’s way, an issue that stemmed from poor radio communication between himself and the pit wall. Browning went into the pits for a new radio, in hopes it would be fixed for the remainder of the session. Further back, Aron had a snap of oversteer but managed to keep the car under control and stay on track.
As the session progressed, lap times began to fall rapidly. Norris switched to the mediums and set a 1:25.820, moving to the top. O’Ward followed closely behind on the softs, going P2 and ending up just 0.056s off Norris’ benchmark.
Antonelli was next to top the timings, just ahead of Sainz, but Norris and Verstappen were able to go quicker. Bearman had an issue with his Haas machinery, losing power and crawling back to the pits.
Hadjar moved to the top of the timings, with Sainz 0.112s behind, and both Bortoleto and Hulkenberg in P3 and P4. Most drivers returned to the pits, with only Verstappen, Aron, Browning and Crawford still on track.
Verstappen moved to the top on softs
Verstappen was the first driver to dip into the 1:24s on the soft tyres. As more drivers switched to the softs, Russell could not match Verstappen’s pace and moved into P2, 0.240s behind. Norris then had a snap of oversteer through Turn 2, forcing him to abort his first flying lap on the soft compound.
There was also a tense moment between Shields and Crawford, the two Aston Martin rookies running this weekend. Crawford was on a hot lap when he encountered traffic with Shields, creating a near-miss between the pair.
Haas managed to address Bearman’s earlier issue and sent him back out on medium tyres, or so they believed. He quickly radioed in to report the problem had worsened, and the team retired the car from the session. The initial diagnosis points to a sensor issue, which Haas expects to resolve before FP2.
Norris later returned to the top of the timings, edging ahead of Verstappen by just 0.008s. Charles Leclerc slotted into P3, only 0.016s back, while Antonelli followed in P4, a tenth behind Norris.
10 minutes left of FP1
Charles Leclerc had a spin at Turn 5, sliding backwards into the run off area and flat spotting his tyres.
Norris finished the session just ahead of Verstappen, with Leclerc in P3. Antonelli and Hülkenberg rounded out the top 5.
Full FP1 classification and results from the F1 Abu Dhabi GP
- Lando Norris (1:24.485)
- Max Verstappen
- Charles Leclerc
- Kimi Antonelli
- Nico Hülkenberg
- George Russell
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Ollie Bearman
- Carlos Sainz
- Franco Colapinto
- Ryo Hirakawa
- Isack Hadjar
- Paul Aron
- Pato O’ Ward
- Arvid Lindblad
- Arthur Leclerc
- Ayumu Iwasa
- Luke Browning
- Jak Crawford
- Cian Shields
