F1 Results Today: Lando Norris on top as Oscar Piastri sidelined at Abu Dhabi GP

McLaren F1 star Lando Norris made a statement early on at the Yas Marina Circuit, topping the timesheets in FP1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

His team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri was sidelined to make way for Pato O'Ward as Friday's first practice session saw nine slightly less familiar faces step up to drive F1 machinery.

Eight teams who had not yet filled their rookie quota fielded less experienced drivers in place of one of their usual stars, with Aston Martin opting to swap out their driver duo entirely; but F2 drivers Jak Crawford and Cian Shields only managed to finish way down the order in P19 and P20 respectively.

Title rivals Norris and Max Verstappen both suffered issues during FP1 but the McLaren still managed to get ahead early on as the nerves set in for Red Bull.

With less than 10 minutes to go, Verstappen reported over team radio that his car was ‘broken’, claiming that the RB21 was suffering issues ‘everywhere’. Clearly the energy drink giants still have work to do, but the Dutchman could still clinch the title on Sunday as he sits 12 points behind Norris in the standings.

Elsewhere, Ferrari star Charles Leclerc was joined on track once again by his brother Arthur, but seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton will be back at the wheel of the SF-25 for FP2 later on Friday.

Who is the current F1 world champion?

Max Verstappen is the reigning F1 champion, and won his fourth drivers' championship last year.

Is there F1 today?

Yes, following on from the final FP1 session of the season, FP2 will take place at the Abu Dhabi GP at 5pm local time (GST). The third practice session will kick off on Saturday morning before the vital qualifying later that day. For all the practice times this weekend, click here.

F1 Title Scenarios: How Max Verstappen can win the championship in Abu Dhabi

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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