Formula 1 News: Norris & Verstappen 1-2 in opening Abu Dhabi practice

Title rivals Lando Norris (pictured) and Max Verstappen ran 1-2 in opening practice for the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP at the still green and dusty Yas Marina circuit.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Norris, in the superior Rob Marshall sedigned McLaren, ran an extra set of soft rubber and was able to turn a lap of 1m24.485s to nip Verstappen, who focused more time on long runs by just 0.008s in a session that saw 9 rookies get seat time.

To underscore what a dog the Red Bull RB21 is, Red Bull ran F2 driver Arvid Lindblad to see if he could do better than Yuki Tsunoda. He ended up 3/4 of a second slower than Verstappen, who is the only driver talented enough to make the Red Bull fast.

Charles Leclerc was third fastest in the #16 Ferrari, 0.016s behind Norris.  Leclerc suffered a spin but still ended up with the third-quickest time. Leclerc is complaining of zero grip, a lack of pace and laments that “we are so slow.”

Kimi Antonelli was the faster of the two Mercedes drivers, 4th fastest 0.123s behind Norris.

Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top-5 for Sauber, 0.144s behind Norris.

The good news for the soon to be returning full-time drivers is they all have cars to jump into. All the rookies behaved themselves and kept well clear of the walls.

So, Norris has started the weekend well then. He finishes top in FP1, having run a set of the medium and a set of the soft compound tires out there. Whereas Verstappen ran the hards and the softs.

As for Verstappen, his session was not without incident, as he complained of something being broken on his car.

2025 Abu Dhabi GP Practice 1 Results