What we learned from Friday practice at the 2024 F1 Abu Dhabi GP

As max verstappen With the 2024 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship set for almost two weeks, the only competitive interest in this Abu Dhabi season finale is focused on mclaren Or ferrari Will finish the title of constructors.

This is in addition to early mind game shots of potential 2025 title contenders Verstappen and george russell,

But in a far more meaningful battle, McLaren had a strong advantage after two practice sessions away from the Yas Marina track on Friday – leading by 21 points anyway.

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Here again the rookies dominated the opening practice session – with five new players joining Liam Lawson (Given his presence in the 2023 race, this is a special case in itself), Franco Colapinto and Jack Doohan (also in special circumstances) as a ‘regular’ first-timer.

The first one-hour session was bittersweet for Ferrari Charles Leclerc Leading the non-representative sunny race with a time of 1m24.321s.

They were awarded a piece of F1 World Championship history as the first siblings to drive for the same team in a GP weekend session (Argentina 1971 and the Fittipaldi brothers were not counting due to Lotus’s non-championship status). Got a chance to join my brother on the track. ,

But with the elderly Leclerc missing the opening half of FP1 due to a battery problem with his car, Ferrari swiftly revealed that it needed a replacement and so Now have to take a 10-place grid drop Wherever he will qualify ahead of Sunday’s race. Already, this was even more advantageous for McLaren in the battle of the constructors.

The Orange team’s fortunes got even better in the early exchanges of this final scrap when it dominated FP2, while Ferrari struggled comparatively – this being, as usual, the only practice session before the race and night. Timing matters given the twilight setting similar to qualifying.

Norris led for much of FP2 – with a few seconds left when he was led by teammate oscar piastri during his qualifying simulation attempts – and came out on top with a 1m23.517s.

Meanwhile, Qatar winner Verstappen struggled with understeer so badly on his Red Bull that he fell behind sergio perez At both one-lap and race pace.

The lengthy race simulations that closed FP2 brought further good news for McLaren, as Piastri’s average laptime was 0.312 seconds faster than the best Ferrari could manage.

At Ferrari, Leclerc’s FP2 qualifying simulation was marred by traffic on his first lap carlos saenz Finished fourth – 0.582 seconds down on Norris and behind Interloping Nico HulkenbergHaas put down its soon-to-be former driver’s high-profile result to reach the sweetspot on the tire challenge.

FP2 overall order

what does the data tell us

The lengthy race simulation kicked off FP2, which brought more good news for McLaren, as Piastri’s average lap time was 0.312 seconds faster than the best Ferrari, courtesy of Leclerc. But of the four leading teams, the chasing Constructors’ Championship challenger was eclipsed by its rivals Red Bull and especially mercedes Very.

As the table below shows, Lewis Hamilton Piastri led with an average of 1m29.505s, 0.147s slower. Next up for Red Bull, Perez’s best (an average of 0.067 seconds faster than Verstappen, who also managed on similar mediums for the Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes cars) was 0.276 seconds down on Hamilton.

In terms of length of stint – where the usual FP2 cautions regarding fuel load should be remembered for the last time this year – Red Bull and Ferrari took the longest to set those averages, with 12 more for Perez and Leclerc. With 13 each. Both Hamilton and Piastri were fueled for at least nine laps to meet those averages.

medium long term average

“I don’t think the others have started their engines yet,” insists Norris.With the challenge as usual at the Yas Marina track, trying to keep the softs in good shape for the tyre-torching off-camber left-handers around the W Hotel in sector three.

So far, regardless of Classic FP2 Engine Mode Settings warning or not, it looks like the MCL38 is handling this challenge better than everyone else.

“It may feel great right now, but I think we’ll still have a tough fight tomorrow,” Norris said, as realistic as ever.

Given how it prepared its rubber so well to dominate Las Vegas’ cold conditions, it’s hardly a surprise to see the Mercedes W15 struggling with it. Russell, on his qualifying simulation attempt, struggled to stay within track limits on the final corner as the softs were heavily ridden.

Encouragingly for Red Bull, it is worth remembering how it started the 2023 weekend by missing its desired balance sweetspot on the all-conquering RB19. In the end, Verstappen dominated the race to extend his winning streak to four races in Abu Dhabi since his walk-off win in 2020.

Like Qatar, Red Bull insiders suggest it is currently struggling to find the RB20’s narrow best operating window with initial set-up options at ride height level. Verstappen is complaining so vociferously about the front end that it’s not just about hitting the tire temperature window for the Dutchman’s squad. However, the team feels it has less work to do to improve its balance than it did a week ago.

“There is no balance involved from entry to mid-corner,” Verstappen explained. “And that basically makes it difficult to push. “This is something we have to work on throughout the night.”

It seems even Ferrari is still struggling with keeping the Softs alive rather than burning them up. Sainz claimed, “We still haven’t achieved full performance” because “always when the track temperature drops and when we put on softer tyres, our car struggles a little more”.

“McLaren have always been quick here in the past. This has always been a track for McLaren, but Lando has been very quick in Abu Dhabi before” carlos saenz

Challenge to overtake failed Ferrari fernando alonsoThere was an ambition to win the drivers’ title for the Scuderia here 14 years ago – when their race engineer was Andrea Stella, now McLaren team principal – although DRS did not exist at that time.

And if it fails to finish ahead of McLaren in qualifying – with the added pressure of Leclerc’s battery-change grid penalty – it will look like a very long shot for a first championship of any kind for Ferrari since 2008 . No wonder the mood is somber so far, with McLaren seemingly poised to claim its first constructor crown since 1998.

“McLaren has always been fast here in the past,” Sainz concluded. “This has always been a track for McLaren, but Lando has been very fast in Abu Dhabi before.

“I think they will always be a tough team to beat at the moment, (but) they looked the strongest this weekend. So, it will be a tough task to defeat them.”