Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Sergio Pérez led Max Verstappen in what was the final practice session of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season at the Yas Marina Circuit, with multiple drivers having issues with the heat throughout the hour-long session.

Pérez looked strong for the first thirty minutes of the session on the medium compound tyres, and that was until the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team emerged on soft tyres to trade top spot with the Mexican driver. The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver showed come impressive pace on the soft tyre, but Perez was the man to finish ahead of the current world champion by 0.152s with a laptime of 1:24.982s.

Behind the Mercedes’ of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris came in fifth place which highly impressive for the British McLaren F1 Team outfit ahead of both Scuderia Ferrari drivers, with Charles Leclerc voicing his opinion throughout the session. Norris’ team-mate Daniel Ricciardo showed more good pace, finishing in eight places ahead of Sebastian Vettel on his last practice session in Formula 1.

British driver Hamilton is currently under investigation as he failed to slow for a red flag in the final practice session overtaking a Haas car in the process. The red flag was brought out after Pierre Gasly suffered a puncture and Hamilton was seen to pass two cars at turn five whilst the session was suspended.

Williams Racing’s Alex Albon put in a decent performance finishing tenth despite having a near miss with Norris at Turn 8 late into the session. It wasn’t the session that BWT Alpine F1 Team would have wanted with their drivers slightly off the pace down in eleventh and twelfth, which will worry them considering Norris’ pace throughout the weekend.

Felipe Drugovich completed his first free practice session with Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team on the final Friday of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Drugovich was recently crowned FIA Formula 2 Champion, and he was hired as the official Aston Martin reserve a few weeks ago, replacing the new Haas F1 Team driver Nico Hülkenberg. Having had some time in a 2021 Aston Martin a couple of weeks ago to qualify for a free practice outing, Friday saw his first official test, and while he finished last out of the twenty drivers, he felt it was good experience for the young Brazilian driver.

His best lap time of the session was a 1.28.672 on the soft tyre towards the end of the session. He completed twenty-three laps and showed some relatively decent pace throughout.

Drugovich was pleased with his contribution and was happy to help the team prepare the car, while also getting a chance to push on a softer compound of tyre.

“It was a really good FP1 session today,” said Drugovich. “We kept to the run plan: we wanted to try a few things with the car early on and it felt pretty good out there. After that, I also had a Soft tyre run which was nice.

Sebastian Vettel has somewhat emotionally completed his last ever Free Practice One and Free Practice Two as a Formula 1 driver, with the German admitting that it did feel “funny” that it was the last time.

He settled into the day at the Yas Marina Circuit as easily as you’d expect, given that he is a four-time World Champion. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is the place where Vettel shocked the world in 2010 and claimed his maiden Drivers’ Championship, something he’ll never forget.

The German ended the first session of the day under the baking Abu Dhabi sun in sixth, before ending the day in twelfth as the night settled in.

Looking ahead to the rest of the weekend, he’s hoping that he can “improve” with some tweaks to be done to his AMR22, where he’ll be targeting one last heroic qualifying performance.

“It has been like many other Fridays, to be honest! Once you drive out of the garage, you get into the rhythm and try and get in the groove with the car which did not take long this afternoon. It was the same again this evening with how the track changes here when the sun sets. It does feel a bit funny that it is the last Friday, however. All in all, a productive day with plenty of laps. We will see what we can do overnight and how we can improve ahead of tomorrow.”

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN had a good day on track on the final Friday of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Valtteri Bottas finishing in the top ten in both practice sessions and Guaynu Zhou getting in valuable laps in FP2.

Alfa Romeo are battling to keep hold of sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team and they have shown impressive form in the last few races of the season with front wing and floor upgrades giving them enough lap time to fend off their competitors.

Bottas finished in the top ten in both practice sessions, importantly finishing ahead of both Aston Martin’s in Practice Two. The ex-Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver will be hoping to qualify well, and score points this weekend and help the team cement their position in sixth place.

“We had a good start of the weekend: a smooth day without issues, in which we could do all the laps and all the tests we had planned.

“The car balance felt good from the start, so we didn’t have to do big changes: we just focused on fine-tuning the car, especially in the second session as conditions were a lot closer to what we’ll have in qualifying tomorrow.

Pato O’Ward had his first Formula 1 experience today taking over from Lando Norris in practice one at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which is, of course, the season finale.

O’Ward took control of Norris’ MCL36 for the first hour of free practice at the Yas Marina Circuit, completing twenty-laps and finishing eighteenth ahead of fellow Free Practice One stand-ins Jack Doohan and Felipe Drugovich, who drove for the BWT Alpine F1 Team and Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team.

His time on track was initially delayed after he was ordered to return to the pits on his second outlap, but the Arrow McLaren SP Team driver still got valuable laps in the book. The IndyCar driver finished the session eight tenths behind Daniel Ricciardo, but there was plenty of positives to come out of the session.

“It was a really enjoyable experience today. We got a few curveballs thrown at us, which made things a little bit more challenging and obviously a lot of information that isn’t part of driving the car that I had to digest – but all-in-all I felt it was a successful first FP1.

O’Ward has done multiple tests with the team before, mostly in the 2021 McLaren car and he is hoping that he can get another shot in the car next season in free practice.

It was a decent day at the office for the McLaren F1 Team today at the final Friday of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 season for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Lando Norris sat out the first practice session, with Pato O’Ward stepping into his place. A return to the cockpit saw Norris finish eleventh, which was over two tenths behind his team-mate in ninth, who only completed half the number of laps.

Norris has already secured his position as the ‘best of the rest’ ahead of Esteban Ocon in the Drivers’ Championship but he will be determined to help the team finish above the French outfit in the Constructors’ Standings, despite that looking very unlikely.

“A reasonable day. Having swapped out for Pato in FP1 I was playing a bit of catch-up and I’m still a little bit behind, but I think we made a decent start to the weekend. We’ll make some tweaks overnight and try to take a step forward tomorrow.”

Daniel Ricciardo: “I think we’re in a good spot”

Daniel Ricciardo completed his last Friday with McLaren, and it was a competitive day at the office for the Australian driver.

Formula 1 veteran Robert Kubica stood in for Zhou Guanyu in the first session of the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Friday, where the Polish driver thoroughly enjoyed his time behind the wheel of the Chinese driver’s C42.

In his Free Practice One appearance, Kubica was left very happy with all the data he gathered for the team to use going into the business end of the weekend at the Yas Marina Circuit. The Pole was hilariously asked by Zhou’s race engineer towards the end of the session if he’d like a final push lap on the Softs, something the former Renault and BMW-Sauber driver didn’t turndown,

He ended the session in fourteenth and “very pleased”, after having a “good feeling” in the C42.

“It’s always nice to drive this car and I’m very pleased about my performance, especially as the last time I was in the C42 was back in Hungary. I was driving LMP2 cars last week and there’s always some getting used to with a different car, but it all went surprisingly well, especially with the hard tyres.

“In the end, in an FP1 you only have a single lap to nail it, that’s the challenge of this session. I had a good feeling with the car, and we figured out quickly where to improve. It was a productive day and it gives us confidence for the rest of the weekend.”

Esteban Ocon was pleased with the performance of the BWT Alpine F1 Team across the two free practice sessions in Abu Dhabi on Friday, with the Frenchman ending the day seventh fastest under the floodlights at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Ocon started the day by setting the twelfth best time in the afternoon session but found improvements in the second hour of running, and he was happy with the knowledge they learned with regards to the soft and medium compounds of tyre.

Heading into Saturday’s running, Ocon says it is important to get everything they can out of the car to get a good spot on the grid, but he is confident they can be competitive this weekend.

“It’s always a pleasure to drive under the lights in Abu Dhabi, and the last Friday of the season was a solid one for us,” said Ocon.  “There were some good overall improvements from FP1 to FP2, and we gained a good understanding of the Soft and Medium tyres in both sessions.

“It was a positive day overall but it’s only Practice and we’ll need to be at our best tomorrow to have a good result in Qualifying.

Robert Shwartzman was happy with his performance during his second free practice session outing of the season with Scuderia Ferrari in Abu Dhabi, with the Russian driver ending seventh fastest overall.

Shwartzman, who is competing under an Israeli licence due to the competitive ban on Russian athletes, took to the track at the Yas Marina Circuit on Friday in place of regular driver Carlos Sainz Jr., and was able to complete a full testing programme without any issues.

After taking part in his first session last month ahead of the United States Grand Prix, he was just over half a second down on Charles Leclerc on Friday afternoon, completing twenty-four laps as he continued to adapt to the 2022 machinery.

After the session, Shwartzman was thankful to Ferrari for the latest opportunity to drive the F1-75, and he will get another opportunity next week when he participates in the post-season young driver test at the same track.

“Today’s practice was good and I’m happy with the progress that I made,” said Shwartzman.  “Ending the session in P7 felt good, I felt comfortable in the car and we ran through the planned programme without any issues.

Charles Leclerc admitted Scuderia Ferrari were struggling with their race pace performance during free practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Friday, but he is confident they can find that pace across the rest of the weekend.

The Monegasque driver finished third fastest in both free practice sessions at the Yas Marina Circuit, but it was not the one-lap pace that was the worry, with Leclerc feeling Oracle Red Bull Racing and maybe even the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team are ahead of them at this stage of the weekend.

Leclerc hopes to get answers overnight and look to improve the feeling of the car during Saturday’s final free practice session of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship season before the final Qualifying of 2022 later in the day.

“Overall, our sessions were ok,” said Leclerc.  “We struggled a bit with the race pace due to tyre degradation, which was expected.

“Our qualifying pace was a little better, but our competitors seem to be a step ahead.  We will use tomorrow’s practice to make further progress and give it our all for the last qualifying of the year.”

George Russell enjoyed a competitive looking day at the Yas Marina Circuit on Friday, with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver ending second fastest in both practice sessions.

Russell, the FIA Formula 1 World Championship’s newest race winner after taking the chequered flag first last weekend in São Paulo, ended the day strongly with the second best time, beaten only by World Champion Max Verstappen of Oracle Red Bull Racing.

The British racer feels Red Bull do have the edge on Mercedes at this stage of the weekend, but he believes Scuderia Ferrari could be beatable as the two teams battle over second place in the 2022 Constructors’ Championship.

“We had a very strong day in terms of what we’ve learned, given this is one of the last opportunities to gain learnings for the next season,” said Russell.  “With the test items that we ran during FP1, especially on my side of the garage, I’m looking forward to 2023 with what we’ve learned today.

“For FP2, the track changed completely with the temperature drop. The car felt fast, but I think Red Bull are ahead of us in terms of single lap pace and maybe even more so in the long runs. So, we have some work to do overnight, but compared to Ferrari our performance from what we can tell so far looks reasonable for this weekend.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT is looking to rent out the fourth Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 for the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship season as part of a new business tool.

Among the WRC teams, M-Sport Ford WRT has become known for the fact that there is a place in the team if you are willing to pay for it. From the team, you can rent a car for a single event or buy a seat to drive for the full season. Many private drivers have also had the opportunity to claim the car as their own.

Toyota and Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT however have taken a stricter line, Toyota has only rented out a car three times before for a single event for Marcus Grönholm in Rally Sweden 2019, Jari-Matti Latvala in Rally Sweden 2020, and Esapekka Lappi in Rally Finland 2021.

Next year, Toyota´s fourth car may see different drivers when the seat will be open. The Japanese driver Takamoto Katusta will drive half of the season in the factory team´s third car and the other half outside the team in a similar fourth car. It´s when he is in the main team the car would be available to rent for privateers.

Toyota is taking the first steps toward the so called customer program. The team is also currently developing a Rally2 car, which is estimated to enter the market around 2024.

Liam Lawson participated in his third free practice session of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season on Friday, but it was the first time he did so with Oracle Red Bull Racing.

The New Zealander’s first two outings had been with sister team Scuderia AlphaTauri, but he took the place of reigning two-time World Champion Max Verstappen for the opening hour at the Yas Marina Circuit on Friday afternoon.

Lawson completed twenty-two laps of the Abu Dhabi track and placed an impressive fifth fastest, just over two-tenths of a second down on the best time set by regular race driver Sergio Pérez.

And before he focuses on what is likely to be his final FIA Formula 2 event before he moves to the Japanese-based Super Formula championship in 2023, Lawson was thankful for the opportunity gifted to him by Red Bull to allow him track time in the championship-winning RB18.

“It was a really cool experience today, it’s the first time I’ve tested for Oracle Red Bull Racing during a Formula 1 weekend,” said Lawson.  “I was a little bit nervous before the session, but the car is really good so I felt comfortable straight away.

Max Verstappen was delighted with his Friday at the Yas Marina Circuit, despite the two-time FIA Formula 1 World Champion missing the opening practice session.

Oracle Red Bull Racing gave Liam Lawson his first chance to drive the RB18 on Friday to fulfil the teams need to give young drivers two opportunities to run free practice sessions throughout the 2022 season, and this time around it was Verstappen who stepped out of the car.

When he got out on track in the evening session, Verstappen hit the top spot with a great lap of 1:25.146, more than three-tenths of a second faster than anyone else could manage.

“I’m really happy with how that session went, I think the car came together well,” said Verstappen. “Liam did a really good job in FP1, he was calm and steady which is exactly what we needed.

“In FP2 we tried a few things and in the long runs the car was working quite well, so I’m pretty happy with that. Weather wise, the temperature in FP2 was more representative of what it will be like during qualifying.

Max Verstappen did not let missing the first free practice session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend affect him as he went fastest in the second session at the Yas Marina Circuit on Friday evening.

This weekend we have the softest tyres in the Pirelli range available, with the C5 being the red-walled Soft tyres, as was Brazil last weekend. The asphalt in Abu-Dhabi isn’t the most abrasive which warrants Pirelli nominating the softest tyres for the track.

After handing their cars over to reserve drivers in the first practice session in Abu Dhabi, Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Verstappen, Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr. and two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso are among the eight drivers back in having missed FP1 for young drivers. 

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN driver Zhou Guanyu is the first out on the track and was soon followed by Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team‘s Sebastian Vettel, competing in his final FIA Formula 1 World Championship event before retirement, and Sainz.

After fifty minutes of the session, the track was busy with everyone already out on track except the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS Formula One duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell – they are sitting pretty in the pits.