The final round of the 2025 Formula 1 season kicked off with the unrepresentative F1 Free Practice 1 at the Abu Dhabi GP. Lando Norris was the fastest driver out on the circuit with a time of 1:24.485. The #4 was eight thousandths of a second ahead of Max Verstappen and sixteen thousandths of a second in front of Charles Leclerc. Read on for all F1 Free Practice 1 results to see how the rookies and the rest of the grid performed.
Nine New Faces Out on Track
In the final Free Practice 1 session of the 2025 Formula 1 season, it was a rookie affair. The final time teams fulfilled their required obligations for up-and-coming young drivers. Eyes in particular were on Arvid Lindbald, who took over for Yuki Tsunoda in the Oracle Red Bull Racing vehicle. Lindblad was out early in the session, setting a time of 1:27.991 on the hard tyres. The rookie will race under the #41 for Visa Cash App Racing Bulls next year.
Paul Aron made his fifth Free Practice 1 appearance in the BWT Alpine Formula One Team A525 of Pierre Gasly. The #61 had a near-off as he oversteered into the final corner, coming down on the main straight. Ryo Hirakawa made his fifth outing of the season in the Haas F1 Team machine of Esteban Ocon. The Japanese driver was on the radio quickly, complaining about porpoising on Turns 6 and 7. However, he was the best-performing rookie of the session, finishing in eleventh place.
Cian Shields debuted in the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team car of Fernando Alonso, while Jak Crawford was back in the AMR25 of Lance Stroll. Crawford, set to be the third driver for the team in 2026, showed off his quick reflexes to avoid traffic. This included navigating around Shields, who was slow as Crawford came around the corner.
Ayumu Iwasa replaced Liam Lawson for the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls. The rookie had a relatively quiet session, testing the soft tyres and finishing the session in seventeenth. Luke Browning took out the Atlassian Williams Racing FW47 of Alex Albon, but quickly experienced some radio static issues. Due to the poor communication, Browning found himself in Isack Hadjar’s way. Pato O’Ward made his second appearance for McLaren in the MCL39 of Oscar Piastri. O’Ward found himself second on the timesheet at one point, but ended the session in fourteenth.
Arthur Leclerc joined his brother, Charles Leclerc, for the Free Practice 1 session in the Scuderia Ferrari HP Formula 1 car driven of Lewis Hamilton. With so many new names on the circuit tripping up the team engineers, it was equally confusing for some to have two Leclerc brothers to contend with. GianPiero Lambiase referred to the younger as “Leclerc Junior,” much to the amusement of Max Verstappen.
Early Session Times Roll While Drivers Work Out Issues
Hadjar was one of the first drivers out on track. However, it was his future teammate, Verstappen, who jumped straight to the top with a time of 1:27.130. Norris was not far behind, though, coming up faster on the medium compound tyres with a lap time of 1:25.820. Carlos Sainz was very cryptic over the radio, complaining of not being able to push under braking. When his engineer asked him to elaborate, the #55 responded simply with: “You know why.”
George Russell came out on the hard tyres in his Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 car, as did Kimi Antonelli. Both showed promising performance early on, but their times tumbled down the order by the halfway mark. Oliver Bearman came crawling back to the pits after a power issue, stuck in fourth gear. The #87 was stuck in the Haas garage for a significant period. Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber came up to the top three within the first twenty minutes of the session, with Nico Hulkenberg on the medium and Gabriel Bortoleto on the C3.
Tweaks and Problems Increase in the Last Half
More cars went into the pit lane to put on the C5 soft tyres in the second half. Norris had a small snap on his first flying lap on the compound in Turn 2. But the #4 managed to improve on his time to come ahead of Verstappen.
Bearman finally came back out after the Haas team had fixed the hydraulics issue, returning on the original hard tyres. However, he was quick to vent on the radio, saying the problem was getting worse. Eventually, the #87 was told to retire the car after completing only fourteen laps completed. The team identified a faulty sensor as the root of the issue and decided to box the car and have it repaired for the next session.
Verstappen was the next on the radio, complaining of issues and feeling it throughout the car as it started to bottom out. With a few other drivers already complaining of bouncing, it seemed like the #1 was experiencing similar problems. C.Leclerc had a massive spin at Turn 5, sliding backward into the runoff area. But it was quickly spotted and remarked on by his younger brother: “I think Charles is doing some burnouts for the fans!”
Looking Ahead to Free Practice 2
All-in-all, it was a relatively incident-free session, with no rookies or main feature riders crashing. With Norris claiming the first fast time of the weekend, he has cemented that he is here to fight for the championship title. However, Verstappen is close behind.
The fact that Piastri missed Free Practice 1 could be seen as both an advantage and a disadvantage. With O’Ward helping set up the car for the #81 driver, he may be a little more rested than the two other championship contenders. However, could not having that time in the car prove costly to the rest of his weekend? With everyone back in their usual seats and set up similar to track conditions on Sunday, Free Practice 2 will be the crucial session of the weekend.