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The FP1 at the Abu Dhabi GP ended with a Mercedes 1-2, continuing from last weekend in Brazil.
The first hour of running featured a plethora of young drivers including Jack Doohan, Logan Sargeant, Liam Lawson, Robert Shwartzmann, and others as teams got through their obligatory young driver tests for the season.
The top five were more or less expected with Lawson being surprisingly very close to Sergio Perez in the timing sheets.
So, what did we learn after the first 60 minutes of running in the 2022 Abu Dhabi GP? Let's find out.
2022 F1 Abu Dhabi GP FP1: Key Learnings
Here are five key learnings:
#1 Mercedes vs Red Bull is a possibility
Sergio Perez had a compromised first lap, as he first overshot the turn 1 exit. The second lap went away from the Red Bull driver in sector 3 as the car was nowhere compared to Mercedes and Ferrari.
It remains to be seen what the true potential of Red Bull is. Meanwhile, what Mercedes did was very impressive. They were quick in the first, second, and third sectors and looked balanced throughout the lap.
It might be a bit early to say, but the 2022 Abu Dhabi GP could be a close contest between Red Bull's Max Verstappen and the two Mercedes drivers.
#2 Ferrari are a question mark
With Carlos Sainz not running in the first session, it was difficult to understand Ferrari's speed in FP1. The car looked great in the first and third sectors, but the second sector was shockingly bad. Ferrari lost upwards of three tenths of a second to both Red Bull and Mercedes in that sector.
Are Ferrari running a compromised PU setting? Did they turn down their power unit to preserve it during the power-intensive sector 2? These are questions that might get answered more clearly after FP2.
Early indications? Ferrari could be a wildcard, but it's difficult to say that for now.
#3 Logan Sargeant and Liam Lawson impress
Logan Sargeant and Liam Lawson put together lap times that should ideally make everyone stand up and take notice.
Lawson on his soft tyre run was just two tenths of a second down on Perez. Without any prior running in these conditions, that was very very impressive from the Red Bull junior.
Similarly, Logan Sargeant's lap time that was two and a half tenths behind Alex Albon showed why Williams are eager to give the F2 driver a chance.
Jack Doohan also had an impressive run, but it was somewhat curtailed by the overheating power unit, while Pato O'Ward had to endure gearbox issues, so it's difficult to pass too many judgments on his run either.
Overall. the youngsters who were given an opportunity put together a strong showing and did not look out of depth.
#4 Valtteri Bottas has found his groove again at Alfa Romeo
Since his revival in form at Mexico, Valtteri Bottas has been impressive, and the trend continued at the Abu Dhabi GP weekend. The Alfa Romeo driver continues to put together strong times and is the benchmark for Guanyu Zhou.
It almost makes you think whether Alfa Romeo might have been wiser to pick Mick Schumacher as Bottas' teammate for 2023, considering Schumacher beat Zhou in the championship in Formula 2.
Alfa Romeo once again are relying on Valtteri Bottas at the Abu Dhabi GP to score points. It will be interesting to see if he can make it happen.
#5 McLaren vs Alpine is going to be interesting
At the 2022 Abu Dhabi GP, one of the more fierce battles is going to be between McLaren and Alpine. By the looks of it, the first impression does not indicate any significant advantage to either side. The second session could be more indicative and will be interesting to see where Daniel Ricciardo fits in the puzzle.
McLaren have a 19-point deficit to Alpine in the championship. To overcome that, they will be desperate to pull off a kind of result at the Abu Dhabi GP they have not done very often this season.
McLaren got the better of Alpine when it came to snatching Oscar Piastri this season. Alpine will look for payback, so P4 in the championship is certainly going to help.
