Lewis Hamilton led teammate George Russell in a Mercedes one-two in first practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Hamilton was 0.220s off last weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix winner as he entered the final weekend of the Formula 1 season. World champion Max Verstappen was not involved as Red Bull development driver Liam Lawson was in his car. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third fastest, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. The two men are vying for second place in the championship and are level on points heading into the weekend, a race which revealed an internal row at Red Bull in Brazil. Verstappen’s refusal to instruct the team to concede sixth place to Perez on the final lap at Interlagos, and his subsequent admission that he did so because of “something that happened in the past”, has so far dominated the Abu Dhabi headlines . Verstappen continues to refuse to say what his problem is, but multiple sources have said he believes Perez crashed on purpose in the closing stages of qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix. This prevented the Dutchman from improving his time and securing a place on the front row, leaving him fourth on the grid behind Perez, who went on to win the race. The situation has created an internal crisis at Red Bull. Verstappen says he made his feelings clear in the previous race in Mexico and the team admitted it made mistakes in its handling of the race in Brazil, in a statement that included factual inaccuracies about the events of the race. One of those mistakes was not discussing with Verstappen before the race that they wanted him to help Perez, which he says he will do this weekend if the situation arises. Sources within Red Bull say Perez has admitted he crashed in Monaco on purpose to team management. But the Mexican himself says that the information is “wrong”. The first practice session featured a number of young drivers given opportunities under F1 testing rules. Lawson was fastest in fifth in the Red Bull, ahead of the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel, who is competing in his final grand prix before retirement. Vettel asked everyone in F1 – teams and media – to join him for a photo on Saturday afternoon after qualifying, before running or walking a lap of the track. Robert Schwarzmann was seventh fastest in Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Williams driver Alex Albon. Logan Sargeant, who will graduate to F1 with Williams next year if he secures enough license points in this weekend’s Formula 2 finale, was 15th at Williams. And IndyCar star Patricio O’Ward was 18th in the McLaren after his session was cut short by early trouble, followed by Jack Doohan in Fernando Alonso’s Alpine and Felipe Drugovich in Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin.
