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Scuderia Ferrari HP ran three drivers on this first day of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc drove both free practice sessions, joined by his brother Arthur for the first hour, before the younger Leclerc handed back the SF-25 to Lewis Hamilton for the second one. Between them, they ran all the compounds brought here by Pirelli (C3, C4 and C5), completing a total of 115 laps.
The day’s programme was completed, which in Arthur’s case was less relevant to this weekend and more to do with gathering data useful back at base. The track evolved throughout as it gradually cleaned up and got rubbered in.
Tomorrow’s final free practice session starts in track conditions that are not that relevant given the temperatures at this hour, but the time will still be spent mainly fine tuning the cars for qualifying.
FP1: Charles and Arthur had a trouble free session running first the Hard tyre while getting used to the track, which was still quite dirty. Charles did a qualifying simulation during which he set his best time, running the softest tyre, before switching back to the Hards used at the start of the session. Arthur, one of nine rookies on track in this session, had a different programme, which included looking at the correlation between data from the simulator and from the actual car. Therefore, he only ran the Soft compound tyre in the closing moments of the 60 minute session.
FP2: In the second session, Charles also ran the Medium compound before returning to qualifying configuration on Softs. Towards the end, he took on more fuel, going back out on the tyres used at the start of the hour. Lewis, at the wheel of the SF-25 for his only session of the day, ran a very similar programme to his team-mate, setting his best time on Soft tyres. The Englishman then upped the fuel load, to also run the Mediums with which he’d completed his first few laps. This session was the most meaningful, in terms of the lap times as it took place at the same time as Sunday’s race start and just one hour earlier than when qualifying will get underway tomorrow.
Charles Leclerc: FP1 was very special for me. Seeing my younger brother behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car with the Scuderia, and sharing the track with him for a practice session is something we dreamed of together since we were kids and it put a smile on my face.
In terms of driving, it was a tricky Friday for us overall. We are missing something and are pushing to find where we can improve to be further ahead in tomorrow’s qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton: It was great to see Arthur in the car this afternoon in FP1 and I was feeling good coming into FP2. The car proved challenging to drive and there is some work to do ahead of tomorrow to improve the feeling with the car. We’ll review the data tonight and work on the areas that can help us make a step forward for tomorrow’s sessions.
Arthur Leclerc: I’m really happy with this FP1. It was a good session and we gathered important data for the team and the simulator group. Everything went well and the pace was strong. The Soft tyres were completely new to me, so I just tried to give it my best. Being on track together with my brother and the other Formula 1 drivers is always a great emotion. I want to thank the whole team for this opportunity.
Check out our Friday gallery from Yas Marina here.
