Championship chief Lando Norris set a promising tempo forward of title rival Max Verstappen in FP2 of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, however McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri languished outdoors the highest ten.
Norris set the quickest time of the session with only one flying lap on comfortable tires at sundown, reducing the benchmark to 1:23.083. That was sufficient to beat Verstappen by 0.363 seconds, with McLaren wanting happier within the cooler night time circumstances.
- Norris narrowly beats Verstappen in Abu Dhabi GP free apply
Many of the variations had been on the street circuit-style closing sector, dominated by gradual 90-degree turns. McLaren was almost 0.3 seconds quicker right here alone, whereas Norris additionally gained greater than 0.15 seconds within the first sector, though Verstappen complained of “an excessive amount of bounce” from the flat Flip 3.
Verstappen loved a slight benefit on the mid-split flip from the Flip 5 hairpin and down the again two straights, together with the merging chicane, the place the Dutchman was nearly 0.1 seconds again.
Nonetheless, Piastri was unable to make the most of McLaren’s tempo round Yas Marina. He remained in eleventh place, 0.68 seconds behind his session-leading teammate. The Australian made two makes an attempt to document a signature quick lap, however each had been tainted by errors. The primary time was at Flip 1 and the second time was on the chicane between Turns 6 and seven.
Piastri was compelled to skip FP1 to present McLaren IndyCar star Pato O’Ward a run as a part of his staff’s closing obligation of the yr to make use of inexperienced drivers, but it surely seems to have taken the price into consideration, with the previous title chief not proud of the MCL39’s stability through the session, regardless of tweaking it on the go to discover a higher stability.
The problem additionally affected his excessive gas race simulation runs on medium tires, throughout which he was slower than Norris, placing his already distant championship hopes in danger.
George Russell completed third, the Mercedes driver 0.379 seconds slower than Norris, however ended the session by radio saying that regardless of an hour of observe time, he had “fully misplaced the experience.”
Oliver Bearman took fourth place, his Haas simply 0.418 seconds behind after a efficiency that left the British rookie very blissful. “Hey, the automobile’s loopy!” he radioed after recording his quickest lap. “I do not perceive why automobiles are so good.”
Sauber team-mates Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortleto had been carefully tied, almost half a second off the tempo, in fifth and sixth, with Racing Bull driver Isaac Hajjar forward of him by 0.574 seconds.
Charles Leclerc was Ferrari’s quickest driver, setting a lap time 0.575 seconds slower than Norris after an optimistic environment in FP1, when he was lower than 0.02 seconds behind.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso completed ninth, with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli rounding out the highest 10, 0.625 seconds behind. Piastri dropped to fifteenth place behind Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon.
Esteban Ocon was sixteenth, however the Frenchman was not as sturdy on the automobile as his teammate Bearman. Hiroki Tsunada adopted in seventeenth place, forward of Liam Lawson, whereas the Alpine staff welcomed Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly on the backside of the standings.
outcome
