A chaotic, dusty, unserious, perfect FP1 to close the season
Free Practice 1 at Yas Marina delivered everything we expect from this session and more: scorching daytime temperatures, a sandy track that evolves by the lap, teams running rookie programs, and a general sense that nothing happening on the timesheet should be trusted for even a moment. Yet within that chaos, FP1 gave us some of the funniest radio, most unhinged fan commentary, and most absurd rookie discourse of the entire season, fitting for the final twilight weekend of 2025.
McLaren Theater: Piastri vs. Zak, Season Finale Edition
McLaren didn’t even need a mechanical issue to become the center of FP1 dramatics. The simple act of Oscar Piastri occupying Zak Brown’s pit-wall seat was transformed into a full season-long power struggle, with fans turning the moment into a fictional political coup after a year of tension within the team.
If FP1 teaches us anything, it’s that a harmless moment becomes a narrative when the championship is on the line. Piastri didn’t overthrow anyone, but the social commentary wrote the script anyway.
Ferrari Chaos: Leclerc, the SF-25, and the Ongoing Exorcism Saga
Ferrari entered FP1 in peak comedic form. Leclerc spun at Turn 5 at the worst possible moment, immediately providing Arthur with enough ammunition to roast his older brother over radio. What followed was classic Leclerc-family energy: Arthur openly enjoying the moment, fans pointing out how identical the brothers sound, and widespread confusion as listeners tried to determine which Leclerc was actually speaking.
The spin quickly morphed into a broader cultural commentary about Ferrari itself. The team remains so intensely serious that even their deadpan engineering responses turn unintentionally funny, especially when placed against the slapstick backdrop of a car that never quite behaves when asked. The brothers’ shared suffering made the moment oddly wholesome, even as fans joked about performing a season-ending exorcism on the SF-25.
Leclerc Naming Multiverse: Charles, Carlos, and the Great Identity Crisis
The Leclerc confusion folded neatly into a parallel conversation about how many people in the Sainz orbit are also named Carlos. The revelation that “Charles” is literally the French counterpart of “Carlos” only added fuel to the comedic fire.
Between identical voices and shared etymology, FP1 briefly became an identity-fraud seminar disguised as a practice session.
George Russell’s Name-Slip Radio: O’Ward, Iwasa, and AI Timing Tower Madness
Russell’s radio moment, correcting his engineer after O’Ward and Iwasa were mixed up, fit perfectly into FP1’s theme of lighthearted dysfunction. With OWA and IWA appearing side-by-side on timing screens, the slip was easy, but fans immediately added it to the hall-of-fame archive of mistaken identities.
Everyone recalled classics like De Vries vs. debris, Massa’s penalty confusion, and even Patrick Bateman being conflated with Jason Bateman. FP1 has always been fertile ground for chaos, but the naming disasters felt especially on-brand with nine reserve drivers on track.
Verstappen’s Everything-Everywhere Radio: Crisis as a Warning Shot
Verstappen contributed his own signature brand of drama with a description of the car having issues “everywhere,” instantly becoming the standout line from FP1’s radio chatter. Fans immediately treated it as the modern evolution of Hamilton’s old “my tires are gone,” predicting, accurately, that the more Verstappen complains, the more certain a pole lap becomes.
Some see it as psychological warfare. Others see editing bias, with only the dramatic moments ever being broadcast. Either way, the pattern is now law: Max suffers in FP1 → refines in FP2 → obliterates in qualifying.
FP1 Classification: Norris on Top, Ferrari Flattering, Sauber Surprising
2025 Abu Dhabi FP1 Top 10
- Norris – 1:24.485
- Verstappen
- Leclerc
- Antonelli
- Hülkenberg
- Russell
- Bortoleto
- Bearman
- Sainz
- Colapinto
Rookies/Reserves:
Hirakawa (11), Aron (13), O’Ward (14), Lindblad (15), Arthur Leclerc (16), Iwasa (17), Browning (18), Crawford (19), Shields (20)
These times meant nearly nothing in representative performance terms, given the sunlit conditions and the dust-heavy surface. Ferrari and Sauber running near the front only reaffirmed this: both teams are known for FP1 pace that evaporates as soon as the sun goes down.
Tires: Softs for Headlines, Hards for Truth, Mediums for Misery
The tire picture in FP1 was unusually clear:
- Softs were the only compound capable of producing a meaningful lap time.
- Hards offered stability and consistency that resembled race conditions.
- Mediums degraded quickly and delivered little of value.
Multiple teams used two sets of tires; others stuck to single runs. Live timing added confusion by misreporting compounds, but the takeaway was consistent: FP1 happened in daylight, qualifying and race will not, and the shift in temperature will redefine competitive order completely.
The Cian Shields FP1 Flashpoint: Pay Driver Debate in Overdrive
Shields’ appearance dominated the second half of FP1 discourse, especially after finishing 20th, half a second behind Crawford. Many expected a far larger deficit, which ironically made his result look better than anticipated, until the tire data revealed that Crawford did not use softs, while Shields did.
The broader debate erupted instantly. Shields’ junior résumé, 13th in GP3, 30th in F3, 24th in F2, was contrasted against reported seat-time costs ranging from £2.5 million to £4 million. Fans revisited the Hirakawa precedent, where Toyota paid £2.6m for a McLaren FP1 run by an actual multi-time WEC champion, to underline the scale of this investment.
Some argued it’s simply the modern “piss-off price,” a premium teams quote expecting clients to decline, only to accept anyway. Others argued that exposure on live global TV is far more valuable to certain families than private test days.
Comparisons to Stroll, Mazepin, Nissany, and Ragunathan followed, with most concluding that Shields sits much closer to the Nissany/Ragunathan end of the spectrum than the Stroll model of high-funding but legitimate results.
Regardless of perspective, FP1 proved once again that reserve-driver discourse can overpower the on-track action.
Sibling Chaos Redux: Charles Spins, Arthur Celebrates
Charles’ poorly timed spin became the emotional centerpiece of the session. Arthur’s immediate roast, combined with how indistinguishable the brothers sound over team radio, left fans in hysterics. For a moment, it wasn’t clear whether Charles was mocking himself or Arthur was simply living his best younger-brother life.
It was one of FP1’s most human scenes: two brothers coping with the Ferrari experience by laughing through the pain.
A chaotic, dusty, unrepresentative session filled with rookies, radio meltdowns, sibling rivalry, naming multiverses, tyre confusion, philosophical warfare, and exactly the sort of comedic energy we expect before the real weekend begins.