Sebastian Vettel headed the times in a close first practice session at Yas Marina.
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were close behind, the trio covered by just 0.148 seconds and all setting their quickest times on the ultra-soft tyres.
Fourth-quickest Kimi Raikkonen began the session with a large aerodynamic rig attached to his Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas was fifth but Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull was only tenth. He was separated from the rest of the ‘big six’ by Sergio Perez, the McLarens and Felipe Massa.
The second Force India was driven by Mercedes junior driver George Russell, who ended the session just outside the top ten in 11th place.
Conditions were dusty and slippery around parts of the track which led to several drivers spinning. Romain Grosjean made light contact with a barrier in his Haas, Antonio Giovinazzi spun the team’s other car and Nico Hulkenberg also lost control of his Renault at turn 14.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’39.006 | 22 | |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’39.126 | 0.120 | 24 |
| 3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’39.154 | 0.148 | 15 |
| 4 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’39.518 | 0.512 | 22 |
| 5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’39.741 | 0.735 | 29 |
| 6 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’40.293 | 1.287 | 23 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’40.522 | 1.516 | 19 |
| 8 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’40.569 | 1.563 | 14 |
| 9 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’40.723 | 1.717 | 26 |
| 10 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’40.773 | 1.767 | 29 |
| 11 | 35 | George Russell | Force India-Mercedes | 1’41.131 | 2.125 | 26 |
| 12 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’41.306 | 2.300 | 23 |
| 13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’41.581 | 2.575 | 26 |
| 14 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’41.646 | 2.640 | 28 |
| 15 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’41.748 | 2.742 | 23 |
| 16 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’41.752 | 2.746 | 25 |
| 17 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’41.864 | 2.858 | 26 |
| 18 | 50 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Haas-Ferrari | 1’42.065 | 3.059 | 21 |
| 19 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’42.344 | 3.338 | 27 |
| 20 | 28 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’42.585 | 3.579 | 35 |
First practice visual gaps
Sebastian Vettel – 1’39.006
+0.120 Lewis Hamilton – 1’39.126
+0.148 Max Verstappen – 1’39.154
+0.512 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’39.518
+0.735 Valtteri Bottas – 1’39.741
+1.287 Sergio Perez – 1’40.293
+1.516 Fernando Alonso – 1’40.522
+1.563 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’40.569
+1.717 Felipe Massa – 1’40.723
+1.767 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’40.773
+2.125 George Russell – 1’41.131
+2.300 Romain Grosjean – 1’41.306
+2.575 Lance Stroll – 1’41.581
+2.640 Pierre Gasly – 1’41.646
+2.742 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’41.748
+2.746 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’41.752
+2.858 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’41.864
+3.059 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’42.065
+3.338 Marcus Ericsson – 1’42.344
+3.579 Brendon Hartley – 1’42.585
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
Best times by tyre
| Driver | Team | Best ultra-soft time | Ultra-soft gap | Best super-soft time | Super-soft gap | Best soft time | Soft gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’39.126 | 0.12 | None | 1’41.135 | ||
| Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’39.741 | 0.735 | 1’42.652 | 2.138 | None | |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1’40.773 | 1.767 | None | 2’37.286 | 56.151 | |
| Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1’39.154 | 0.148 | 1’40.514 | None | ||
| Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’39.006 | None | None | |||
| Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’39.518 | 0.512 | None | None | ||
| Sergio Perez | Force India | 1’40.293 | 1.287 | None | None | ||
| George Russell | Force India | 1’41.131 | 2.125 | None | 1’42.196 | 1.061 | |
| Felipe Massa | Williams | 1’40.723 | 1.717 | None | None | ||
| Lance Stroll | Williams | 1’41.581 | 2.575 | None | 1’42.812 | 1.677 | |
| Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1’40.522 | 1.516 | None | None | ||
| Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1’40.569 | 1.563 | 1’41.373 | 0.859 | None | |
| Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 1’42.585 | 3.579 | 1’44.118 | 3.604 | None | |
| Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 1’41.646 | 2.64 | 1’42.391 | 1.877 | None | |
| Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1’41.306 | 2.3 | None | 1’42.574 | 1.439 | |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | Haas | 1’42.065 | 3.059 | None | 1’43.530 | 2.395 | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | None | 1’41.864 | 1.35 | None | ||
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | None | 1’41.748 | 1.234 | None | ||
| Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1’42.344 | 3.338 | None | None | ||
| Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 1’41.752 | 2.746 | None | 1’43.672 | 2.537 |
Islander
24th November 2017, 10:58
Was this the last ever free to air FP1?
Deej92 (@deej92)
24th November 2017, 11:20
One more year in the UK I believe.
Egonovi
24th November 2017, 12:13
F1 moving indoors?
TheOracle
24th November 2017, 14:28
@ Egonovi
ofcourse not, next year F1 will purchase the air that it intakes, this will be the last year it gets air for free.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
24th November 2017, 15:42
In the UK at least, F1 has one more year with some coverage on free-to-air television:
https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2016/03/23/uk-lose-live-free-air-f1-2019-sky/
Other countries have free-to-air deals which go beyond that.
Islander
24th November 2017, 16:31
Thanks for that Keith.
Robbie (@robbie)
24th November 2017, 13:17
Free to air isn’t exactly free anyway, is it? Here in Canada there is no option to buy F1 coverage separately, it is part of the satellite package we pay for. TSN gives us the Sky feed and it’s the best coverage we’ve ever had. So for us we’re at about $1500 annually for all the channels we subscribe to. TSN can be had cheaper as it is included in packages having fewer channels than we choose to have, and price depends on if you want some or all channels in HD too. You’d still be into about a grand a year anyway. That’s what it is for us in Canada and I’m very happy with it and hope it continues.
Jere (@jerejj)
24th November 2017, 14:54
@robbie +1.
Gill (@gill)
24th November 2017, 13:43
Is K Mag the only driver in the V6 era to have driven the cars powered by all the engine suppliers ?
in 2014, he drove McMercedes
in 2015, he drove McHonda ( in Australia)
in 2016, he drove Renault
in 2017, he drove Haas powered by Ferrari.
I find this interesting.
Jere (@jerejj)
24th November 2017, 14:54
@gill +1.