Charles Leclerc On Top But Hit With Grid Penalty At Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Practice

Charles Leclerc topped the times for Ferrari ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, in his final race weekend with Mercedes, in Friday's opening practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.  Leclerc's speed was a fillip for Ferrari as they seek to overturn a 21-point deficit behind championship leaders McLaren in Sunday's race, but they suffered a heavy setback as Leclerc required a new battery pack on his car which brought with it a 10-place grid penalty. The Monegasque clocked a best lap in one minute and 24.321 seconds to outpace Norris by 0.221 at the Yas Marina Circuit with Hamilton adrift by four-tenths ahead of Mercedes team-mate George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly. 

Nico Hulkenberg was sixth for Haas ahead of Williams' Franco Colapinto, Haas's Kevin Magnussen, Felipe Drugovich who was standing in for Lance Stroll at Aston Martin and Sergio Perez of Red Bull. 

Two-time champion Fernando Alonso declared he had "the worst car ever" after clocking the 11th best time in his Aston Martin. 

After another episode in the acrimonious fallout between Russell and Max Verstappen, following their spat at last weekend's Qatar event, the final opening free practice of the season began in warm sunshine.

The session involved several rookies including Arthur Leclerc, who lined up alongside his brother Charles for Ferrari – the first brothers to drive together for the same team in an official Formula One session. 

At McLaren, Ryo Hirakawa stood in for Oscar Piastri, Isack Hadjar replaced Verstappen at Red Bull, Ayumu Iwasa came in for Yuki Tsunoda at RB and Luke Browning for Alex Albon at Williams. 

Both McLaren and Ferrari used their rookies for aerodynamic testing, but for the Italian team it created a concern as senior