First Blood: Yas Marina Practice Reveals the Final Title Tensions
It's Friday at the Yas Marina Circuit , and the atmosphere is electric. The Senate Grand Prix team is running race viewing suites and organising ticket deliveries. While FP1 was unrepresentative (due to mandatory rookie running and daylight), FP2, held under the floodlights, gave us the first accurate indicator of who has the advantage in this nail-biting, three-way title decider. Today was marked by the mandatory FP1 rookie running, with Oscar Piastri (currently P3 in the standings) handing his car over to McLaren reserve Pato O'Ward , a calculated risk for a driver who needs every lap. Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari seat was taken by Arthur Leclerc for the hour, while Arvid Lindblad took over Max Verstappen's Red Bull . This meant the actual battle began in FP2, held at the more relevant sunset time. The focus immediately turned to the championship contenders: Lando Norris (P1) : The championship leader (408 points) was fast, focused, and showed no...
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