Vettel and Leclerc batter their Ferraris

The Silver Arrows have won all races there since 2014, this time Valtteri Bottas was the fastest. Despite a violent collision with Haas driver Romain Grosjean, he relegated his teammate and world champion Lewis Hamilton to second place. Sebastian Vettel suffered a crash.

This put a damper on the German's hopes of a strong World Cup final. The Dad of three recorded a spin in the first session, hit the guardrail with his rear and ended up only fourth behind his stable rival Charles Leclerc. Team boss Mattia Binotto no longer expects a repeat of a crash between the two Ferrari drivers like in Brazil. “These are two drivers who fight and can also make mistakes. “It’s important to know that something like this doesn’t happen again,” said Binotto. He did not want to comment on possible rules of conduct or punishments in the event of similar escalations. “There are no answers. This is something we are discussing internally,” Binotto said. “They are both very good drivers and know exactly what to do.”

Scuderia wants its debut victory Ferrari is hoping for a premiere at the Yas Marina Circuit. The “Scuderia” has not won there since the first edition in 2009. But it wasn't just Vettel who had problems with turn 19. Leclerc also hit the guardrail with his right side in the second free practice session and then had to come to the pits to have his Ferrari inspected. He couldn't push Bottas out of the lead either.

However, the Finn Bottas will start from the back of the race because his Mercedes was given a new engine in violation of the rules. His mechanics also had a lot of work to do because of the accident with Grosjean. The vice world champion wanted to overtake on the inside of turn eleven, but the Haas driver overlooked him and crashed into the Silver Arrow.

It's no longer about World Cup titles in Abu Dhabi. Mercedes is again constructors' world champion, Hamilton is again drivers' world champion. In the first training session, the Englishman temporarily drove with the number one on the front of his car for the world champion. The six-time champion is actually 44.

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Vettel and Leclerc batter their Ferraris

Mercedes set the pace in training for the Formula 1 World Championship round in Abu Dhabi on Friday. However, there were disappointments for the Ferrari drivers.

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