P1racenews AI automatic summary:
George Russell set the pace for Mercedes in the opening practice session for the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend.
“The British driver set the fastest lap time of 1:26.072s on the Soft tyre, leading the session with a 0.288s advantage over Felipe Drugovich, who was filling in for Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin. Several drivers, including Drugovich, were taking part in the session to meet the teams’ requirement of fielding a rookie driver twice a year. Daniel Ricciardo finished third in the upgraded AlphaTauri, followed by Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo and Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin. Oscar Piastri secured sixth place, while the two Ferrari cars came next, with Carlos Sainz leading Robert Shwartzman, who substituted for Charles Leclerc in FP1. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly took ninth, and Yuki Tsunoda in the second AlphaTauri rounded out the top 10 in the daylight session at the Yas Marina Circuit.”
