F1 | GP Abu Dhabi, a lot of work for Ferrari on the last Friday of the season

Friday at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was a busy day for the drivers and the entire Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow. Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel worked hard in the two free practice sessions, both here in the afternoon, in preparation for qualifying and the race, also making a couple of mistakes which did not however compromise the planned work programme.

FP1. The first session ended with a fifth and seventh place for Sebastian and Charles who ran first with the soft tire and then with the medium compound to evaluate their behavior in view of the first part of the race. Vettel stopped the clock with a time of 1'38”906, while Charles achieved 1'39”249. One minute before the end of the session, the German also had an accident without serious consequences: at turn 19 he lost control of his car, ending up against the barriers, slightly damaging his SF90.

FP2. Before the session to be carried out under the powerful floodlights that illuminate the Yas Marina track like daylight, the gearbox on Sebastian's Ferrari was replaced: however, no penalty for the German given that the one removed was not the gearbox foreseen for the race. The green light went off at 17pm (14pm CET), the same time qualifying will begin tomorrow, and the program was intense. Charles and Sebastian started working towards qualifying and for the Monegasque there was immediately a difficult moment, still in turn 19, when his SF90 touched the barriers with both wheels on the right side. Returning to the pits, the mechanics found that the car had not suffered any damage, and so Charles was able to continue running by simply changing the tyres. Leclerc himself, in 1'36”642, set the best time between the two Scuderia drivers, just ahead of Vettel (1'36”691).

Long runs. In the second part of the session the work focused more on the race, with Sebastian doing his long run on medium tires and Charles working on the harder compound.

Plan. Tomorrow the last free practice session before qualifying is scheduled for 14pm local time (11am CET), while the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the twenty-first and final round of the season, will start on Sunday at 17.10pm (14.10pm CET).