'Hello to my brother': Charles and Arthur Leclerc team up for Ferrari in F1 practice

What a way to say hello.

Charles Leclerc and his younger brother Arthur drove side-by-side in matching Ferraris at the end of the first practice session Friday for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“Just saying hello to my brother," Arthur told the team over the radio after Charles gave him a wave on their slowdown lap at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Brothers have raced in F1 before — Michael and Ralf Schumacher both won races — but F1 said the Leclerc brothers from Monaco were the first to be teammates in an official session as part of a championship race weekend.

The 24-year-old Arthur Leclerc, who previously drove in Formula 2, was borrowing Carlos Sainz Jr.'s Ferrari because of a rule that teams must give younger and less experienced drivers practice time at least twice per season.

Charles Leclerc said his family was flying in to Abu Dhabi to watch the brothers.

“It will be a very special moment,” he said in a team statement Thursday. “Because to a certain extent it means that all the sacrifices my family made will have served a purpose.”

At one stage, the family reportedly had to pause Arthur's career when he was a teenager because of the financial demands of supporting Charles in his rise toward F1.

Charles was fastest in first practice but his session began with a major setback as Ferrari had to replace the battery pack on his car. That led to an expected 10-place grid penalty for Sunday's race and a heavy blow to the team's hopes of beating McLaren to the constructors' title.

Arthur spent the first part of the session driving with his car fitted with an “aero rake", a frame with sensors that allow teams to measure air flows. By the end, he was 18th fastest of the 20 drivers in the session, 1.858 seconds off his brother's time.

As the last round of the year, Abu Dhabi is a popular choice to try out a younger driver, since teams are typically more familiar with how to set up the car for different conditions regardless of feedback from the drivers.

Five other teams gave practice time to drivers who won't be racing Sunday, including F2 driver Isack Hadjar in champion Max Verstappen's Red Bull and former F2 champion Felipe Drugovich taking over Lance Stroll's Aston Martin.

Alpine driver Jack Doohan is set to make his race debut Sunday as well.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco in action during the first free practice ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Ferrari driver Arthur Leclerc of Monaco in action during the first free practice ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Ferrari driver Arthur Leclerc of Monaco prepares for his debut free practice ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Ferrari driver Arthur Leclerc of Monaco stands in the garage before his debut free practice ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Ferrari driver Arthur Leclerc of Monaco prepares for his debut free practice ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

State Sen. Dan McKeon tearfully announced his resignation from the Nebraska Legislature on Tuesday ahead of scheduled debate to expel him from the body after accusations that he made a sexually charged comment to a legislative staffer and touched her inappropriately during a session-end party last year.

McKeon, a Republican from rural south-central Nebraska who had served only a year before his resignation, announced his resignation and apologized on the legislative floor just minutes before debate that would certainly have included harsh condemnation of McKeon.

“My words and actions were careless, regardless of the intent,” McKeon said. “I accept my responsibility for the impact of my words and my actions.”

“This past year has humbled me. It requires reflection, listening and learning. Accountability is not only acknowledging my mistake but committing to grow from it. I take that responsibility seriously,” McKeon said, his voice cracking.

His demeanor was a departure from what many of his fellow lawmakers found to be a defiant and flippant attitude toward the accusations leading up to his resignation. McKeon's exit came a day after the 10-member Executive Board, the body's governing board, voted unanimously to forward a motion to expel McKeon to the full Legislature for a vote.

The unprecedented move followed a complaint from the staffer who works for another lawmaker that McKeon approached her and another aide during a May 29 party and engaged in small talk about everyone's vacation plans. The woman said McKeon told her she should “get laid” on her vacation and patted her on her buttocks. McKeon has countered that he “made a bad pun," telling the woman she and her spouse should “go to Hawaii and enjoy a Hawaiian lei,” according to McKeon's attorney.

McKeon also countered that he patted the staffer on the back and may have accidentally brushed her rear end, but insists that if he did, it was unintentional.

McKeon's departure comes as more attention has focused on sexual harassment within state legislatures nationwide — including in Nebraska. The accusations against McKeon came about 15 months after the body was thrown in chaos when another Republican state lawmaker, former Sen. Steve Halloran, read a graphic account of rape from a bestselling memoir on the floor of the Legislature in which he repeatedly invoked the name of a fellow lawmaker, making it appear as if that lawmaker was the subject of the assault.

An outside investigation found that Halloran had violated the body’s workforce sexual harassment policy, and the Legislature's governing Executive Board issued him a letter of reprimand. But that action was met with strong criticism from several lawmakers who said Halloran should have faced a censure vote by the full body. Halloran left office in January 2025 due to term limits.

This time around, the Executive Board took a harder stance after a several lawmakers and another outside investigation found that McKeon had a history of making inappropriate comments and jokes during his time in the Legislature. The investigator also found that McKeon ignored a directive by the Executive Board's chairman not to attend events where staffers would be, showing up that same day at another party attended by the woman who filed the complaint against him.

The investigator also found that a text McKeon sent to another staffer who shares an office with the woman, in which he said she “seems to be difficult to work with,” could constitute retaliation against her.

The report determined that McKeon’s conduct did not rise to a level of sexual harassment or retaliation actionable under state or federal discrimination law, but that it did violate the Nebraska Legislature’s workplace harassment policy.

McKeon becomes at least the 57th state lawmaker in the nation to leave office via expulsion or resignation since 2017 following sexual misconduct allegations.

He also faces a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace after a Nebraska State Patrol investigation into his interaction with the staffer last May. McKeon has pleaded not guilty to that charge and is set to appear in court on Jan. 26.

State sen. Daniel McKeon sits during the first day of Nebraska's 2026 legislative session, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

State Sen. Daniel McKeon takes notes during the first day of Nebraska's 2026 legislative session, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)