Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped Friday Practice for 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit.
Verstappen sat out FP1 in order to meet mandatory FIA rules concerning each race driver vacating their seat in FP1 for a rookie this season, yet the reigning champion and two-time Abu Dhabi GP winner hit back in FP2 as he ultimately topped the timesheets.
Mercedes meanwhile continued their pace of Brazil in Yas Marina as George Russell finished second in both sessions, whilst Lewis Hamilton endured a frustrating FP2 after topping FP1.
Now, here is a full roundup of FP1 and FP2 at Yas Marina Circuit.
FP1
Mercedes’ George Russell led a flurry of cars straight out onto the circuit in a session which featured eight FP1 drivers; Liam Lawson, Robert Shwartzman, Robert Kubica, Logan Sargeant, Pietro Fittipaldi, Pato O’Ward, Jack Doohan and Felipe Drugovich.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez though set the intial pace on soft tyres with 1m 28.926 but soon found himself tussling with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for the fastest lap time, as the pair also prepare to battle for the vice-champion honour this weekend.
Come the halfway mark of a busy session, it was Perez who headed Leclerc after he lowered his benchmark time to 1m 27.853 in the 17th minute, whilst Sargeant at that stage of the session was the best-placed of the eight stand-in FP1 drivers in fourth position on the timesheets.
Sargeant though suffered a sudden spin at Turn 1 in the 29th minute due to a locking of rear brakes but luckily avoided the barriers, and was able to recover to the pit lane and eventually complete the session.
Several drivers though opted to focus on tyre data gathering mainly on hard or medium tyres but everyone eventually managed a soft-tyre run, with Mercedes claiming an one-two at the checkered flag as Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheet with 1m 26.633 and 0.220 seconds clear of George Russell.
Leclerc, Perez, Lawson, Sebastian Vettel, Shwartzman, Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon eventually rounded out the top ten.
Specifically out of the eight FP1 drivers, Lawson in fifth position was quickest ahead of; Shwartzman, Kubica, Sargeant, Fittipaldi, O’Ward, Doohan and Drugovich, although O’Ward’s debut for McLaren was almost curtailed due to a system issue just three minutes into the session.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m 26.633 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.220 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.255 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.334 |
| 5 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull | + 0.568 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 0.635 |
| 7 | Robert Shwartzman | Ferrari | + 0.796 |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 0.986 |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.022 |
| 10 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.207 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 1.212 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.258 |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.358 |
| 14 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo | + 1.431 |
| 15 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.465 |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.509 |
| 17 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Haas | + 1.571 |
| 18 | Pato O’Ward | McLaren | + 1.717 |
| 19 | Jack Doohan | Alpine | + 1.851 |
| 20 | Felipe Drugovich | Aston Martin | + 2.039 |
FP2
Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou was first out on track after he was one of eight drivers who sat out FP1 but it was his teammate, Valtteri Bottas who set the initial pace of 1m 27.717 on hard tyres but he was quickly displaced as Leclerc posted 1m 26.045 on mediums to go fastest.
Lewis Hamilton meanwhile was impeded by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen on his first flier and found himself seventh after everyone completed their opening runs, whilst Max Verstappen surprisingly went early on the soft Qualifying simulation to go top with 1m 25.449 in the 17th minute.
Only Russell was able to get close as he went 0.038s shy until Verstappen opted for a second soft-tyre Qualifying simulation, which saw him top the timesheet with 1m 25.146 ahead of Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton and Perez.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was the only driver to not post his fastest lap on soft tyres, as he found himself 19th on mediums, and 1.890s off the pace.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 25.146 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.341 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.453 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.615 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.706 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.786 |
| 7 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.892 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.897 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 0.978 |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.154 |
| 11 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.231 |
| 12 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 1.249 |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.333 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.401 |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.534 |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.604 |
| 17 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 1.693 |
| 18 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.769 |
| 19 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 1.890 |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 2.116 |
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