Hamilton replicates Verstappen under the Yas Marina spotlights

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There is so much at stake on Sunday, so much to be elucidated between

and

, that the first contact at Yas Marina could only turn out to be firework. Even under the floodlights, in conditions very similar to those of the race, no one should draw definitive conclusions, because the two candidates for the title are in something else. The seven-time champion, author of the best time lap of the afternoon (1: 23.691), watches every step of an aspirant who had led the first session (1: 25.009). Meanwhile, the rest of the grill is limited to watching with some amazement. Alpine, with better feelings than Ferrari, could at least sneak

into second place, just 34 hundredths behind the head.

The elimination of the most twisty sections has been good for

car

, who nevertheless saw his best time canceled for crossing the limits at turn 16. The Asturian had to settle for sixth place (1: 24.495), almost half second from his garage buddy.

In any case, with this Renault engine, the French team has the strength to defeat Alpha Tauri, its main adversary throughout the entire season.

Efforts to improve the show seem to have had an effect on a track that so many times unhinged Alonso, given its difficulty when overtaking.

Since 2009, when it debuted in the World Championship, Yas Marina had a reputation for being a boring circuit and this bad reputation has finally convinced the FIA, which has made several significant changes.

Almost 11 seconds faster

Among them, the elimination of the chicane and the widening of the hairpin in turn 7, or the modifications in two sectors (turns 11-14 and 17-20) with the aim of making them much faster.

For example, there is almost 11 seconds difference between Verstappen's best lap today (1: 24.332) and the one that earned him pole 11 months ago (1: 35.246).

Also worth as warnings the touch of

against the wall of turn 14 or the strong accident of

with which Friday's operations would be closed.

Early in the morning, the exit from Turn 16 had already become a critical area.

At that point, those who suffered the most were the Mercedes, who crossed the limits and saw their times eliminated.

Even Alonso had to give up a time trial for going too long.

It was not the only scare for the Asturian, who had just suffered a small exit from the track at turn 1. Although nobody knows anything about the configuration of the engines or the fuel load, the six-tenths deficit in front of the head they supposed an encouraging beginning for the ovetense.

Leclerc's spoiler

Something more complicated was the start for Sainz, wanting to close the championship with his fifteenth race in a row in points. Despite the words of encouragement from

, who raved about his pilot during the press conference, the Madrid native found no way to unseat the unpredictable

. In the first session he had a scare in front of

way to Turn 4 and under the headlights he could not even dodge the traffic to complete a truly full lap.

Charles Leclerc

, three tenths faster than his garage companion, sported a striking aerodynamic modification to his rear wing in the morning.

And it is that nobody loses a second in the preparations for 2022. Although on a technical level, nothing is as exciting as the decision regarding the engines during this weekend.

If Mercedes dares to ride a new one, as it did in Brazil, it may be worth it to face the relevant penalties.

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Know more

• sports

• Formula 1

• Max verstappen

• Lewis hamilton

• Valtteri Bottas

• Red bull racing

• Mercedes gp

• Fernando Alonso

• Carlos Sainz Jr

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