Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc edged out Lando Norris in practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which was red-flagged on two occasions.
A combined 30-minute delay wiped out half of the one-hour session after Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg both crashed out.
Leclerc saw off Norris by just 0.043 seconds, with Max Verstappen third, 0.173 sec off the pace. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished sixth and eighth respectively for Mercedes.
A week after he smashed into a loose drain cover in Las Vegas, Sainz was in the wars again, but on this occasion it was through driver error.
Sainz – who appeared to be put off by another car arriving from the pits – lost control of his machine through turn three and ended up in the barrier.
Although the Spaniard was unharmed in the high-speed smash – with the running just eight-and-a-half minutes old – he sustained significant damage to his car; with the sidepods, floor, rear suspension and front wing of his Ferrari all destroyed.
Sainz’s impact also left the barrier in a mess and a 22-minute delay ensued as the tyre wall was repaired.
But only moments after the running re-started, the red flag was out again – this time after Nico Hulkenberg crashed on the exit of turn one.
On cold tyres, the German was too hasty on the throttle, sliding into the barrier before stopping in his wounded machine.
The stoppages arrived as a blow to half the grid who sat out the opening session as 10 rookie drivers were blooded at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Mercedes are looking to hang on to second in the constructors’ championship and are only four points ahead of Ferrari with one race to go.
And the troubled team will be alarmed by Leclerc’s speed as the Monegasque, on pole position in Las Vegas, topped the order.
Russell finished three tenths adrift of Leclerc while Hamilton, who made way for the team’s Danish junior driver Frederik Vesti in the opening running, was half-a-second back.
Mercedes’ sluggish pace also leaves the grid’s once-dominant team facing up to a winless season – their first since 2011.
In the day’s first running, British drivers Zak O’Sullivan, 18, and Jake Dennis, 28, made their Formula One weekend debuts for Williams and Red Bull respectively.
Ollie Bearman, 18, who in Mexico became the youngest British debutant at a Grand Prix, was handed his second practice appearance by Haas.
Dennis, in Verstappen’s Red Bull machine which Hamilton has described as the fastest ever seen in F1, finished 16th of the 20 runners, 1.1 sec off the pace.
O’Sullivan was 18th – seven tenths behind Williams’ Logan Sargeant – with Bearman 20th and last, albeit only a tenth slower than Kevin Magnussen in the other Haas.
'He's paid five times more' - Horner rebuffs McLaren's number one driver claims
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner assumes Lando Norris is the number one driver at McLaren because he is "paid five times more" than Oscar Piastri.
Despite Norris being the leading driver in the drivers’ championship standings and the highest-paid racer in the McLaren stable, it has been Piastri who has shone of late.
The Australian claimed his second career win in Baku last time out and has now scored more points (135) in the European leg of the season than any other driver.
Piastri is now 32 points behind Norris in the standings, having taken five top two finishes in his last seven races for the British-based team.
Ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, McLaren boss Andrea Stella revealed the team would favour Norris in a bid to topple Max Verstappen in the drivers' championship.
However, Horner rebuffed McLaren's claim that they have two number one drivers, suggesting Norris is being paid significantly more than Piastri.
"Usually those are things that are dealt with behind closed doors, those things, so I'm not actually sure what those rules are," said Horner.
"There still seems to be some confusion in them.
"Every team is different. Our rules of engagement are very clear and what the focus is until the end of the year.
"We've got a driver that's fighting for the world championship. It's a team sport. So it's very clear that Checo's job is to support Max until the end of the year.
"Different teams operate different ways. When you've got an asset like Max Verstappen, you don't make him a No 2 driver.
"Lando Norris, they're paying five times what they pay Oscar, so I would assume he would be their number one driver, or their biggest asset.
"So, therefore, the confusion comes when you're not up front from the beginning of what your plans are."
Thanks to McLaren's success in Baku, they now have a 20-point lead over Red Bull in the constructor's championship.
The British-based team now lead the standings for the first time since 2005, but their way to the top has not come without its problems.
During the Hungarian Grand Prix, Norris initially refused to hand first place back to Piastri before team orders were eventually followed to give the Australian his maiden victory in the competition.
But with McLaren's comments about prioritising Norris for the last seven races of the season, Horner believes that decision should have come much sooner.
"I think the other one is causing them headaches because he [Piastri] is winning races, and he's doing a very good job," continued Horner.
"It was like when Daniel Ricciardo came to us in 2014.
"He was clearly meant to be the number two to Sebastian Vettel, and he won three races that year to Sebastian's none. Sometimes it causes you a headache like that.
"For sure, they took Oscar with the expectation, as Mercedes probably did with George [Russell] and Ferrari did with Carlos [Sainz], that you've got a prime asset and a support asset.
"And when the second driver starts outperforming the first driver, that's when you tend to have a headache."
Horner rues 'heartbreaking' Perez crash in Baku
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner insisted Sergio Perez "deserved more" after a "heartbreaking" crash denied him a place on the podium in Baku on Sunday.
Perez, who made a brilliant start to the season only to struggle in recent months, looked set to register his best finish since finishing third at the Chinese Grand Prix in April after comfortably holding P3 for much of the race.
However, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz snuck past him on the penultimate lap, and when the Mexican attempted to regain third place, the two tangled and hit the barrier, forcing them both out of the race.
That meant that George Russell instead claimed the final podium spot alongside winner Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc.
"He deserved a lot more," Horner told Sky Sports. "He should've at the very least been on the podium today.
"It was a magnificent race out at the front for so many laps. It was great to be in, it was exciting to be a part of, and it's just disappointing that it came to a close like that when it didn't need to.
"Unfortunately, he lost quite a bit of time on his out laps behind Alex Albon and then Lando [Norris] cost him dearly, which gave Oscar [Piastri] track position. I think without that, he would've won the race today.
"It's one of those things that's very heartbreaking for him and the team that so much effort goes in to lose a podium in the dying laps of the race."
It was a tough day for Red Bull all around, as Piastri's win coupled with Lando Norris crossing the line before Max Verstappen meant that McLaren leapfrogged them in the constructors'’ championship.
Red Bull are now 20 points behind McLaren ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, and Horner admitted he was not happy with how the tide had turned.
"Very, very disappointing," he added. "[The crash] destroyed the race for Checo.
"It's cost us a lot of damage and obviously vital points in the constructors' championship."
Ricciardo ready to experience the world of motorsport amid F1 exit rumours
Daniel Ricciardo revealed his desire to experience the world of motorsport as his 13-year Formula One career hangs in the balance ahead of the 2025 season.
Ricciardo, who has raced for five different teams in F1, is yet to find out whether he will race for RB next year.
The Australian and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda were considered the favourites to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull until the Mexican signed a new two-year deal.
Red Bull is a team Ricciardo knows well, of course.
Ricciardo has won eight F1 races during his career, seven of which came with the Austrian-based team before his move to Renault in 2019.
Across his 257 race entries, the 35-year-old has also claimed 1,329 points and 32 podiums, but Ricciardo has been unable to get close to the top three in recent times.
The Australian has not stood on the podium since his last victory at the Italian Grand Prix in 2021, picking up just 55 points over the last three seasons for an RB team who have struggled to emerge from the midfield places in a competitive grid.
Ricciardo finds himself 14th in the drivers' championship this term, with his best finish coming at the Canadian Grand Prix in June, where he finished eighth.
With time potentially running out on his F1 career heading into the final seven races of the 2024 season, Ricciardo kept his options open as to what may come next.
“I mean there's things I would like to try and experience," Ricciardo said in an interview with Tourism Western Australia ahead of the release of his new film 'Drive the Dream 2.0'.
"I don't know, let's say on a competitive level, I grew up a fan of NASCAR. I'd like to drive a NASCAR. I'd love to drive around Daytona, for example.
"But would I like to compete? Yes and no, but I also know that, it's not what I grew up doing, and I'll probably get smoked so like, I don't know if I need that!
"I would love to experience it. I love motorbikes. I love MotoGP. I would love to try a MotoGP bike, but I would be very, very slow and probably horrendous. Just like, all in my own time.
"And actually Bathurst, if it's, obviously okay, it's the V8 that does the race there, but you know there's the 12 hour and stuff, so maybe that's one I could compete in.
"If a V8 team said 'hey, do you want to do a few laps around Bathurst, no pressure, just to experience it', then I'll definitely take that up."
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