P1racenews AI automatic summary:
It is certainly not what Lewis Hamilton would have wanted in the last GP of his 12 years with Mercedes.
In his final grand prix of his F1 career, Lewis Hamilton will face the stewards for impeding Lando Norris, who ended up settling for second-best behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the end of the final first practice session of the season in Abu Dhabi. With the constructors’ championship on the line going into the last race of a record-breaking 24-event campaign, with 21 points separating McLaren and Ferrari, Leclerc and Norris were separated by two-tenths of a second. Leclerc had to wait until 30 minutes into the session before finally taking to the Yas Marina Circuit due to an issue with his Ferrari, but once on the soft tyres as he attempted to make up for lost ground, the Monégasque posted the best lap of 1:24.321s, leaving Norris 0.221s adrift. As the session concluded, it was announced that Ferrari had to change the battery pack on his SF-24, incurring a 10-place grid penalty that damages the team’s hopes of winning the constructors’ crown. Hamilton, third quickest, but almost half-a-second down on Leclerc, will visit the stewards’ office after blocking Norris into the final corner in his final race weekend for Mercedes after 12 seasons with the team before joining Ferrari next year. Result Free practice 1 – Abu Dhabi: Hamilton and team-mate George Russell exchanged fastest laps early on on the medium tyres, with the former having the upper hand, with a 1:25.566s, by a slender 0.005s. On the switch to the soft tyres, Russell appeared poised to go quickest, only to be slowed in the final corner by RB’s Liam Lawson. Moments later, Norris delivered a stunning lap of 1:24.542s, but was ultimately usurped by Leclerc to add further intrigue to the F1 constructors’ title fight.
