Friday, December 5

Lando Norris took a step forward at the start of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and it is already clear to McLaren that the enemy is Max Verstappen.

Lando Norris He doesn’t want to let his first crown slip away Formula 1. He knows it, with a 12-point lead Max Verstappen And 16 around Oscar Piastri With 25 at stake, he is the most to lose out of the three title contenders. And this trophy, which will be on display at Yas Marina Circuit this weekend, is everything he has worked for his whole life, as he admitted in the preview. His performance on Friday confirmed this: English was the best in the first free practices He was happy to leave the four-time Dutch champion behind him, something that if he also achieved on Sunday would make him the new champion of the category.

FP1, with nine starters given their cars to test drivers, left Piastri out of the fray: the Australian watched from the pitwall how McLaren Driven by a Mexican Duck ord He finished 14th, and his teammate, with a time of 1 minute 24 seconds and 485 minutes, was able to actually beat Verstappen – by eight and 16 thousandths – and Charles Leclercwho had the pleasure of starting his 150th Formula 1 Grand Prix with his younger brother. Arthur Next door, at Ferrari Lewis Hamilton.

In the second free practice, with Piastri back, Norris’ performance was overwhelming. On a track with weather conditions similar to those he will experience in qualifying on Saturday and in the race on Sunday – after sunset in the Middle East – the times collapsed and the Englishman won the session with a time of 1:23:083 minutes. The closest Verstappen could get was 363 thousandths George Russell He finished third at 379 in front of brilliant Oliver Berman (Haas) and Sauber that impressed with their one-lap pace with the Ferrari engine and which, on the contrary, found the cars of the Italian team in eighth and fourteenth places, again with Lewis Hamilton very far behind. What happened to Piastri? He made mistakes in his attempts and was 680 thousandths behind.

It was at that time, between FP1 and FP2, when Zac Brown He faced the press at the FIA’s usual press conference on Friday and the question arose about the team’s standings – which did not appear in Qatar and became McLaren’s big strategic mistake. “As long as both drivers have the opportunity to win the world championship – and they clearly do now – everything will remain the same. They are free to compete. Obviously we will be practical and realistic. If it becomes clear, as the weekend or race progresses, that one has a much better chance than the other, then we are a team that wants to win the Drivers’ Championship and we will compete accordingly, doing everything we can to push that driver forward and try to win the race. Our team orders focused on giving equal chances to win the tournament. But if it becomes clear, as the race progresses, that neither can do it, we will do what is best for the team and try to win the Drivers’ Championship. We’d be crazy if we didn’t.“, He said.

The English team’s CEO continued: “So we will use common sense.” “We will not throw into the sea a Drivers’ Championship For sixth, seventh, third, fourth, fifth and sixth place if one of our drivers does not have the opportunity. Our drivers are excellent teammates. They have shown that they will work for the best interests of the team, and of course also for their own, so I have a lot of confidence.” He also explained that if neither of them wins the championship, “it will be disappointing, but Max is not a four-time world champion and it is easy to oust him.”

Although the saying goes that races must be made, Norris took it a step further on day one Abu DhabiBut this land knows about miracles as much as Verstappen, who was world champion here for the first time four years ago, in this definition that Lewis Hamilton remembers on the last lap.

Like Us
Follow Us
Subscribe Us
Follow Us