Norris Edges Verstappen by 0.008s as Rookies Shine in Abu Dhabi FP1 at Yas Marina
Lando Norris opened the final weekend of the 2025 Formula One season with the fastest time in Free Practice 1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating Max Verstappen by eight thousandths of a second in a closely fought opening session at Yas Marina.
The McLaren driver leads the Championship by 12 points heading into the season finale and with Oscar Piastri also in mathematical contention, the title remains a three-way fight. Piastri did not take part in FP1 as McLaren fulfilled its rookie requirement, placing Pato O’Ward in the Australian’s seat for the hour.
A bumper roster of rookies
Nine young drivers took part in FP1 as teams completed their mandated rookie sessions. O’Ward headed the list, the Mexican returning for his second outing of the year. Ferrari fielded Arthur Leclerc in place of Lewis Hamilton, once again pairing the Leclerc brothers on track.
Red Bull gave Arvid Lindblad another outing before he moves to Racing Bulls in 2026. Williams ran Luke Browning while Racing Bulls placed Ayumu Iwasa in Liam Lawson’s car. Haas continued its rotation with Ryo Hirakawa standing in for Esteban Ocon.
Aston Martin became the only team to field two rookies as Jak Crawford and Cian Shields shared duties in place of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso. Alpine placed Paul Aron in Pierre Gasly’s A525 for his fifth FP1 appearance of the year.
Championship tension in the desert
With Norris, Verstappen and Piastri separated by only 16 points, the pressure on the title challengers is immense. Norris’ situation is simplest: finish on the podium on Sunday and he becomes World Champion. Verstappen and Piastri must outscore him heavily under the floodlights.
The session also came with one emotional side note. Yuki Tsunoda, replaced at Red Bull by Isack Hadjar for 2026, began what is set to be his final Grand Prix weekend as a full-time driver. The Japanese racer will move into a reserve role next year.
Early running and changing track conditions
With daytime temperatures hovering around 27 degrees and a track surface yet to rubber in, conditions were far from representative. Most drivers began on the hard compound although O’Ward started on softs and several rookies opted for mediums.
Verstappen set the early pace with a 1m 27.130s before times rapidly improved. Norris, O’Ward and Sainz all took turns near the front as drivers struggled with traffic, radio issues and light oversteer moments. Antonelli briefly topped the charts on hards, underlining his strong late-season form.
Mechanical drama and near misses
Haas endured a difficult hour as Ollie Bearman suffered hydraulic problems that forced him to retire from the session. Aston Martin’s rookies also had a scare when Crawford caught Shields on a flying lap, the pair narrowly avoiding contact.
Verstappen later reported that «something might be broken» on his Red Bull although the team saw nothing conclusive from the data. Meanwhile Charles Leclerc spun at Turn 5 in the closing stages but avoided damage.
Charles Leclerc goes spinning around at Turn 5 😵💫
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 5, 2025
He's on his way again with no damage done #F1 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/FczXYmRtDK
Soft-tyre shoot-out
As the softs appeared, Verstappen went quickest with a 1m 24.493s. Russell slotted into second before Norris produced a cleaner run to beat Verstappen’s benchmark by 0.008s. Leclerc finished just 0.016s off the top in third, with Antonelli, Hulkenberg, Russell and Bortoleto completing the top seven.
Long-run data was also plentiful. Several drivers logged more than 25 laps, giving teams useful insights ahead of FP2 which will take place in dusk conditions that are far more representative of qualifying and the race.
FP1 top three:
- Lando Norris – 1m 24.485s
- Max Verstappen +0.008s
- Charles Leclerc +0.016s
The stage is set for a dramatic weekend at Yas Marina as the 2025 World Championship goes down to the wire.
