A mere 0.90 seconds separated the top nine drivers in the morning’s F1H2o Sharjah one-hour practice.

The bragging rights swapped and changed throughout the session, with Stark, Rashed Al-Qemzi, Carella and Chiappe all topping the times until Marszalek snatched the fastest time seconds from the end.

Mike Szymura managed to acquire an engine to enable him to take part in the session where the fastest lap of 45.88sec fell to Bartek Marszalek in the dying seconds.

Stark (45.97sec) and Chiappe (46.28sec) were second and third and Carella, Rashed and Thani Al-Qemzi settled into fifth, sixth and 10th positions.

Neither of the Maverick boats took to the water.

Photos: Mike Powell