Lewis Hamilton, fifth on his return to F1, Max Verstappen leads practice one of the Abu Dhabi GP

Max Verstappen 0.034s ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon third for Renault; Lewis Hamilton fifth on the return to F1 after missing last weekend’s race due to the coronavirus; Mick Schumacher makes F1 debut on Haas weekend

Max Verstappen started the final weekend of the Formula 1 season at the top of the timesheets after beating Valtteri Bottas in the first practice of the Abu Dhabi GP, where Lewis Hamilton returned with Mercedes.

Hamilton, who missed last weekend’s Sakhir GP due to the coronavirus, returned to Mercedes’ car on Friday morning after testing negative for Covid-19 before flying to Yas Marina and entering the paddock.

It was a fairly uneventful session for the world champion, who struggled with the brakes at the start and finished it in fifth place, albeit just 1.3 seconds from the leading pace despite setting his best time on a much slower hard tire.

Verstappen’s session maximum time, 1: 37.378, came on softs, just three hundredths of a second ahead of Bottas with Red Bull and Mercedes tied at the start of the final round of F1 2020.

1:34

Mick Schumacher, sporting the No. 50 this weekend, is on the track in his Haas car for his first installation lap.

George Russell, returning to his usual seat at Williams after replacing Hamilton, and almost winning, for Mercedes in Bahrain last Sunday, was 16th, two places ahead of Mick Schumacher, who finally made his F1 debut at the weekend. .

Schumacher, the newly crowned Formula 2 champion and son of F1 legend Michael, missed P1 in Germany earlier this season due to wet weather, but was not going to be denied in the Abu Dhabi sun when he completed 23 laps for Haas. the team he will join full time next season.

He finished ahead of his teammate Pietro Fittipaldi, who once again replaced Romain Grosjean this weekend, and Daniel Ricciardo, who was unable to set a time in the Renault due to an early fuel pressure problem.

Hamilton fifth on return, Albon spins Red Bull

A rather slow start from Hamilton was to be expected considering his absence, and the fact that he only returned to practice this week, but this year’s title winner would have been much further ahead had he opted for the soft tire.

Esteban Ocon, who claimed his first F1 podium last week, finished third in that compound for Renault, ahead of Alex Albon.

Albon, who had one last chance to secure his seat at Red Bull for next season, spun on his pivotal thrust lap, his 1: 38.5 then coming on old and damaged tires.

1:46

Watch Alex Albon stretch into Turn 12 during FP1 before the Abu Dhabi GP.

Lance Stroll was sixth for Racing Point, ahead of Sakhir GP winner Sergio Pérez.

Perez’s weekend, however, got a lot tougher Friday morning as it was confirmed that he would start at the back of the grid for Sunday’s race, with the Mexican taking on a new engine.

Kevin Magnussen, who also receives motor penalties, will join him.

Since the first practice took place in the afternoon sun of Abu Dhabi, rather than the night conditions for the qualifying race, many teams were treating the often unrepresentative session as a testing ground.

That included Ferrari, which was testing its new 2021 floor in session, with Charles Leclerc at 12th and Sebastian Vettel at 14th.

The second practice starts at 1pm at Sky Sports F1.