McLaren struck first against an injured Ferrari and in all matches

McLaren started the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in an unparalleled way. The orange team is seeking its first Constructors’ world title since it won in 1998 and to do so he needs to defend his 21 point lead heading into the final race of the season this weekend at Yas Marina Circuit. And so far, those Moving Looks like they’re all in that fight together.

From one day to the next everything can change and the classification this Saturday, on a circuit where it is difficult to pass, is really very important and can decide that coronation. The numbers are clear: The winner of this Abu Dhabi event has started on the front row of the grid in 14 of the 15 editions held on this track, with the sole exception of Kimi Raikkonen in 2012, who won from 4th in an F1 very different to today’s. And another more devastating fact: the winner of the last 9 races at Yas Marina has always started from pole.

Leclerc sanction complicates things for Ferrari

In that context, what happened this Friday does not rely too much on Ferrari. Carlos Sainz admitted on Thursday that for the Italians to shave 21 points off McLaren in one race, they need a win, put both cars on the podium and expect a disaster from McLaren. But a lot needs to change for that to happen. And the worst news comes at the very beginning of free practice 1.

Ferrari shot itself in the foot at the most delicate moment. When nothing can fail and the red team has to do everything perfectly in search of ‘sorpasso’, Charles Leclerc’s car had problems in Free Practice 1 and stayed in the garage for half an hour. The culprit, the battery of your power unit. This forced the installation of a third unit (only 2 were allowed per year), which This will cost Charles 10 grid penalties on Sunday. It’s even harder.

The road is getting very high for those in red, and if Leclerc gets pole, he will start 11th at most. And from that position, things are very complicated and seem like an act Carlos Sainz, who said goodbye to Ferrari this weekend with a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, along with a real disaster for McLaren, which after what happened in Qatar and its many mistakes this year, cannot be thrown away either .

McLaren dominated at turn one

Here we must add the great performance of the McLarens on the starting track. It is still early and everything could change between now and Saturday and Ferrari could make another move, but the red team has mostly suffered in qualifying more than the race this year and, certainly, if there is something that they need on this track is to beat the McLarens by one lap. Meanwhile, the pace of the race between Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes was very even on the medium rubber.

So far, in Free Practice 2, those in orange have won and sent a message of strength to their opponents with a double. Lando Norris led his McLaren with a 1’23.517 to close Friday fastest, followed by his teammate Piastri, who was 2nd by 0.234. Of course, favoritism is of no use if they make a mistake in classification or race again.

Nico Hülkenberg was surprised by an unreal third position at the wheel of his Haas, which was explained because he made his turn later, with better track conditions. But it should be representative to see Sainz at 0.582, in fourth place, which would be a real third at this point in the absence of seeing how much potential the two historic teams have in a turn battle.

Hamilton, on his farewell weekend from Mercedes before leaving for Ferrari, was fifth, 6 tenths off the best. Meanwhile, Leclerc scrapped his first attempt and was therefore unable to set a good time on his second rubber lap, finishing 6th at 0.684 with a lot of room for improvement.

Alonso, 16th but close to the Top-10

Bottas (7th), Magnussen (8th), Albon (9th) and Tsunoda (10th) They caught their times with the soft tyres, with better track conditions, ahead of Hülkenberg, and managed to get into the top 10 with that extra time. The battle for Q3 will be tight again and on this track any yellow or red flag could put everyone in trouble.. Fernando Alonso will have to stick with it, in addition to working his magic again in a Q3 quest that seems so complicated.

The man from Oviedo worked during the first half hour of FP1 to collect data for his engineers with sensor grids and, while others were in the race simulation, he went out with a new tire to find a corner . But the sensations were not good and he encountered a lot of traffic. In Free Practice 2 the balance of the car was not bad but the performance, especially in a third sector where the car suffered a lot in the slow linked corner, caused Alonso to finish 16th.with less weapons to dream of that Top-10, but at the same time, knowing that it is possible because of how tight everything is.

The Spaniard finished 10th, 1.057 off the best time, in the same tenth as Tsunoda in 10th. From 10th to 18th there were only two tenths. Everything is very tight and Fernando will fight again choosing to finish the year in the points and finish 2024 worse than he expected, hoping to have a better car in 2025 that will allow him to fight more in the points .