2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 F1 results (Yas Marina)

Thomas Maher 05 Dec 2025 10:34 AM

Lando Norris, McLaren, 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Lando Norris set the fastest time of first practice at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Here are the complete results from the first practice session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the finale of the F1 2025 season.

Lando Norris claimed first blood in the championship finale weekend in Abu Dhabi, going quickest in FP1 ahead of Max Verstappen.

Lando Norris takes top spot in Abu Dhabi FP1

With nine rookie drivers taking to the Yas Marina Circuit to start the first practice session of the weekend, it was a sedate pace to kick off proceedings at the Emirati venue.

The critical title showdown between championship rivals Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri was without one of its protagonists in the first session, with Piastri handing his car over to Pato O’Ward as McLaren ticked off the last required rookie season of the year.

This left Norris and Verstappen to battle for top spot between themselves, with Norris emerging on top on the soft tyre.

Setting a time of 1:24.485 on the red-marked Pirellis, this time was just 0.008 seconds quicker than what Verstappen managed on the same compound,

With less than 10 minutes to go, having swapped to race simulations on the hard tyre, Verstappen raised concerns over the team radio about feeling something broken on his Red Bull; he explained to race engineer GianPiero Lambiase that he could feel issues “everywhere” on his RB21.

With Norris and Verstappen leading the way, Charles Leclerc was their closest rival as the Ferrari man kicked off his weekend with some strong pace on the soft tyre. He was just 0.008 off Verstappen’s time, and 0.016 down on Norris’.

FULL REPORT: Beginning of the end with Norris ahead of Verstappen in FP1 in three-way title fight

All you need to know ahead of F1 season finale in Abu Dhabi

👉 How Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri can seal the F1 2025 title

👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

Fourth-quickest was Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, a further tenth back from the leading trio, with Nico Hulkenberg fifth for Sauber to start the Swiss team’s final weekend before the takeover of the Audi name.

George Russell was sixth in the second Mercedes, with Gabriel Bortoleto seventh in his Sauber.

Completing the top 10 were Haas’ Oliver Bearman, Williams’ Carlos Sainz, and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.

With regular race drivers taking the top 10 spots, the nine rookie drivers occupied the bottom half of the grid, with only Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar amongst them down in 12th.

The fastest of the rookies was Haas’ Ryo Hirakawa in 11th, 0.449 from the front, with Paul Aron 13th for Alpine.

Bringing up the back of the pack, over a second off the front-running pace, were Williams’ Luke Browning in 18th, Aston Martin’s Jak Crawford in 19th, and Aston Martin’s Cian Shields in 20th.