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Max Verstappen led the Red Bull double at the first test session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Dutchman, the Formula 1 man in the final phase of the season, was 0.454 seconds shy of Daniel Ricciardo in his last race for the team.
Mercedes drivers Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton finished third and fourth, but used harder tires than Red Bull.
Ferrari, spending time testing pieces for 2019, finished seventh and eighth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Sebastian Vettel.
The Red Bull riders were the only one of the best teams to run a second series of fastest super-soft tires, fast for one lap but quickly losing grip on a longer race.
Mercedes and Ferrari very early piloted the hyper-soft, but then switched to harder tires. Bottas achieved his best time in super soft and Hamilton in ultra-soft.
Hamilton, who won the championship there are two races in Mexico, did not seem satisfied with the performance of his car. He said on mid-air radio: "It's a pretty unfortunate car at the moment."
Bottas also made two big breakaways when he ran on harder tires.
Hamilton uses Friday the engine that he had used during the last race in Brazil and that at one point the team felt he was at a failure lap.
Mercedes stated that the problems were related to the variable valve system and that the settings had been modified during the race to "contain the risk of failure / optimize performance".
Mercedes claims to have "modified the equipment outside the sealed perimeter and that we use this engine today".
Mercedes will analyze the engine at the end of Friday's race. If that's not going to work, they have the choice between running one that's already done seven weekends – and therefore over the expected life – or installing a new engine.
Elsewhere, Sauber's Marcus Ericsson turned at Turn One, damaging his front wing by a slight impact with the gates of what will be his last race before his run at Indycars next season.
The Renault driver, Carlos Sainz, was also uncomfortable, slightly touching the barriers of the turn 19.
And Fernando Alonso, whose illustrious career finishes this weekend, has largely spread from the penultimate bend and put an end to 19th place, the fastest.
Alonso could still test the McLaren 2020 during the upcoming season, team director Zak Brown said Friday, but the Spaniard said his intention was for the time being no return.
Alonso said: "At the moment, it is difficult to think about coming back, but the door is not closed.The first reason is that I do not know what I will feel next year. have been doing it all my life.
"Maybe next year, in April or May, I'm desperate, on the couch, so you know, maybe I'll find a way to get back in. But that's not the case. # 39; s idea, it's more my purpose, whatever the line or something that needs to happen is more what I feel in the middle of next year. "
Alonso will participate in the McLarens with the Indianapolis 500 and will complete his work during the 2018-19 World Endurance Championship season with Toyota. He will declare that he will also participate in other races.
A storm is coming
In the meantime, there is an off-road conflict between Haas and Force India.
Haas filed a protest saying Force India was driving a car she had not designed, which is against the rules.
He is rooted in the collapse of Force India during the summer. The team was resuscitated by the sale of its assets to Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll and was allowed to reinstate his new team.
But Haas immediately objected to the new entity being allowed to retain the rights of the former player in prizes, claiming that if a new team could immediately win a specific portion of the prize fund, then Haas should also be eligible, instead of complying with a rule that teams can only win this slice after being ranked in the top 10 in two of the previous three seasons.
Their complaints have been ignored by the FIA and F1 and this event is Haas' latest attempt at compensation.
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