Max twelfth in Abu Dhabi FP1

Published on 27 November 2015 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen clocked the twelfth quickest lap time in the first free practice session of the last Grand Prix of the season. Fastest man on the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi was world champion Lewis Hamilton, followed by his team mate Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari.

"It went ok. We had a lot of fuel on board and it was good to familiarize myself with the track. We'll do a long run in FP2 and see where we'll be", explained Max to Verstappen.nl.

At 1pm local time, the first session of the weekend gets underway with both Toro Rossos and Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat straight out of the box for their installation laps. Max returns to the pits after his and we have to wait a further ten minutes before the Dutchman banks his first lap time.

After the first half an hour, it is business as usual with both Mercedes at the top of the timing sheets. Max, after completing a long run, sits in P8. The Red Bulls, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Lotus’ Jolyon Palmer, Sauber’s Felipe Nasr and Fernando Alonso fail to set a time in the first third of FP1.

In the next thirty minutes, Max initially drops down the order with all drivers, bar Palmer having put in a lap time, before climbing back to P9.

The remainder of the session is spend by most teams opting for long runs on the harder Pirelli compound. Max ends the session in twelfth, his team mate Carlos Sainz in P16.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Yas Marina Circuit - 27 November 2015

RESULTS FREE PRACTICE 1
 P No Driver             Team          Time       Gap     Laps
 1 44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:43.754             28
 2  6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:43.895   +0.141s   32
 3  7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       1:44.500   +0.746s   27
 4 26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:44.702   +0.948s   23
 5  5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:44.742   +0.988s   23
 6 27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   1:44.751   +0.997s   22
 7  3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull      1:44.893   +1.139s   26
 8 11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:44.934   +1.180s   27
 9 13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus         1:45.314   +1.560s   29
10 19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:45.433   +1.679s   20
11 77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:45.603   +1.849s   22
12 33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:45.718   +1.964s   32
13 22 Jenson Button      McLaren       1:45.773   +2.019s   15
14 14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren       1:45.865   +2.111s   20
15 12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        1:46.115   +2.361s   20
16 55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:46.220   +2.466s   21
17  9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber        1:46.407   +2.653s   29
18 30 Jolyon Palmer      Lotus         1:46.501   +2.747s    9
19 28 Will Stevens       Marussia      1:48.836   +5.082s   19
20 98 Roberto Merhi      Marussia      1:49.888   +6.134s   20 

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