F1: Mercedes driver Nyck de Vries fastest on Day 1 at Abu Dhabi

While IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward was fastest in the morning, in the afternoon, driving the superior Mercedes car, reserve driver Nyck de Vries set the fastest overall time at the Yas Marina Circuit on Tuesday.

de Vries set a time of 1m23.194s as the young drivers running 2021-spec cars finished in the leading positions.

AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson was second, 1.3s behind de Vries, ahead of Alpine’s Oscar Piastri and McLaren IndyCar front-runner Pato O’Ward.

IndyCar Driver not strong Enough

“Today was awesome! The car exceeded my expectations of what it’s capable of – it’s ridiculous how much grip there is, specifically in the fast corners – it’s unbelievable,” said Pato O’Ward.

“For sure, in the morning, my head was still on my neck. But towards the end of the day, I really think what ended up limiting me being able to go quicker was just not being able to hold my head up and see fully where I was going. My head actually was just looking down because I couldn’t hold it up! It’s such an awesome car. What a great experience, I didn’t want the day to finish. I’d like to thank Zak, Andreas and everyone in the F1 team for supporting me through this incredible day.”

Note: See Photos Below Table

Day 1 Overall Results