Championship leader Lando Norris set an ominous pace in FP2 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, ahead of title rival Max Verstappen, while McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri languished outside the top 10.
Norris needed just one flying lap on soft tires at sunset to set the fastest time of the session, lowering the benchmark to 1:23.083 seconds. It was enough to eclipse Verstappen by a significant 0.363 seconds, with the McLaren looking much happier in the cooler evening conditions.
- Norris narrowly beats Verstappen in the first GP training in Abu Dhabi
Most of the difference was in the final street circuit style sector, where slow 90 degree bends predominate. McLaren was almost 0.3 seconds quicker there alone, and Norris also had more than 0.15 seconds in hand in the first sector, where Verstappen complained of bouncing “too much” through the flat Turn 3.
Verstappen enjoyed a small lead through the middle split, which goes from the Turn 5 hairpin to the back two straights, including the subsequent chicane, where the Dutchman regained almost 0.1 second.
However, Piastri was unable to capitalize on McLaren’s pace around Yas Marina. He was stuck in 11th place, where he was 0.68 seconds slower than his teammate, the fastest in the session. The Australian had two attempts to set a representative fast lap, but both were fraught with mistakes: the first in Turn 1, the second in the chicane at Turns 6-7.
Piastri was forced to skip FP1 to give McLaren IndyCar star Pato O’Ward a run to fulfill the team’s latest commitment to field an inexperienced driver this year. He appeared to be counting the costs, with the former title leader unhappy with the balance of his MCL39 throughout the session, despite adjustments along the way to find a better balance.
It’s a problem that continued during his race simulation with high fuel consumption on medium tires, in which he was slower than Norris, putting his longstanding championship hopes in jeopardy.
George Russell finished in third place, with the Mercedes driver 0.379 seconds slower than Norris, ending the session saying “the ride is all over” despite a positive hour of running on the track.
Oliver Bearman finished fourth, his Haas just 0.418 seconds off the pace, after a performance that left the British rookie very happy. “Mate, the car is insane!” ‘ he announced via the radio after setting his fastest lap. “I don’t know how the car is so good.”
Sauber teammates Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were almost half a second off the pace in fifth and sixth, ahead of Racing Bull driver Isack Hadjar, who was 0.574 seconds behind.
Charles Leclerc was the fastest Ferrari driver, 0.575 seconds off the pace, a climb down from the optimism of FP1, when he was less than 0.02 seconds behind Norris.
Fernando Alonso was ninth for Aston Martin, ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who completed the top 10 0.625s behind. Piastri followed Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon into 15th place.
Esteban Ocon finished 16th because the French were not as dead for his car as teammate Bearman. Yuki Tsunada followed in 17th place, ahead of Liam Lawson and Alpine Team meeting Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly at the bottom of the Order.
RESULTS
#Norris #extends #lead #Abu #Dhabi #training #RACER