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F1, Abu Dhabi GP: Arthur Leclerc excited, Lewis Hamilton absent in free practice 1

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As previously announced, in Free Practice 1 of the Abu Dhabi GP, the last round of the World Championship, Arthur Leclerc took Lewis Hamilton’s place at the wheel of the SF-25. Charles’ little brother drove the Ferrari exactly one year later. A’huge satisfaction for the youngest of the Leclerc brothers. Twenty-five-year-old Arthur set the 16th fastest time, 875 thousandths behind the session leader, McLaren Britain&#8217s Lando Norris, who was just 8 thousandths ahead of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc in the other Ferrari at 16 thousandths. Arthur had also contested the first free practice session of the rainbow event last year’s

Fabrizio PonciroliLewis Hamilton offers everyone dinner again: three say no. Pilots’ photo goes viral

Lewis Hamilton offers dinner to everyone again: three say no. pilots’ photo goes viral
The seven-time world champion as is now tradition paid the bill for the year-end dinner of Formula 1 drivers
Formula 1 has arrived at the'last Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi, which will be decisive for the title

For one evening, the drivers put aside tensions and rivalries and enjoyed a dinner together

The'now traditional appointment was paid for by Lewis Hamilton
The photo of the British driver with all his rivals immediately went viral on Instagram
Hamilton shoulder to shoulder with Verstappen and Leclerc. There are also Norris and Piastri, fighting with the Dutch champion for the title
Only three drivers missed the'roll call: Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll of Aston Martin and Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber

"Class 2025. We are the only people in the world doing what we do and for that we are incredibly lucky", wrote Hamilton
"I thank this group of drivers that I have the privilege of racing against and even though we are competitors"
"There's nothing but respect and I am proud to call them friends"
"I hope to give you all a great last race of the season"

“Charles and I are very happy to drive together again in the first free practice. It is very exciting to be in a car on the’other side of the pit than him” Arthur had said yesterday on the eve of the return to the track. “From a technical point of view, driving the car on the track is always useful for us drivers who mainly support the team with our simulator work in Maranello. It helps us provide better feedback to the engineers”. Young Leclerc finished 18th in last year&#8217s first free practice session at the UAE circuit, before taking part in the young driver test after the Grand Prix weekend.

Previously, the 25-year-old Monegasque raced in F2 in 2023 before occupying the last two years as a development driver for Ferrari, also racing in sports cars this season. “As far as physical preparation is concerned, I have been working mainly on my neck, which is the area where you feel the G-forces the most, and I have also been doing a lot of cardiovascular work – he added. From a technical point of view, I have obviously been working a lot in the simulator to be as prepared as possible. My job will be to provide useful feedback on what we are testing and collect as much data as possible to improve the correlation between performance on the track and the results we see at the simulator in Maranello”.

Arthur Leclerc, born on October 14, 2000, on the single-seater side won the Formula Regional Asia championship in 2022, in Formula 3 he finished tenth in 2021 and sixth in 2022, and in Formula 2 he finished fifteenth in 2023.

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