Lando Norris topped second follow on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the head of a McLaren one-two with Oscar Piastri.
Norris’s flying lap on gentle tires got here round midway via the hour because the solar set on the Yas Marina Circuit, It was a formidable effort, with teammate Piastri 0.234s adrift whereas concurrently being equally far forward of the remainder of the sphere
The Australian — who accomplished his first laps on the monitor after having surrendered his automobile for rookie testing in FP1 — misplaced the majority of the time to his teammate within the first sector, the place Piastri misplaced greater than 0.13s to the sister automobile. He was in any other case extra intently matched across the lap.
It bodes effectively for McLaren’s protection of the championship lead, with fourth place the very best Ferrari may handle with Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard 0.582 off the tempo.
Charles Leclerc fared even worse, winding up sixth and 0.684s off the tempo, although his solely flying lap on softs was interrupted by site visitors into the Flip 6-7 chicane on the prime of the circuit, rendering his time unrepresentative.
The Ferrari driver was nonetheless already off the tempo by the tip of the primary break up, although the 10-place grid penalty incurred for taking a brand new battery in FP1 places a higher emphasis on the Monegasque’s race tempo anyway. However Leclerc harbored issues about that, too, exclaiming McLaren are “actually quick” when advised of the rival crew’s race tempo throughout simulations late within the session.
Slotting between McLaren and Ferrari was Nico Hulkenberg in fourth, the Haas driver lapping 0.462s off the tempo, whereas Lewis Hamilton break up the 2 Ferrari drivers in fifth, the Briton 0.602s adrift.
Valtteri Bottas was seventh for Sauber, placing final week’s upgrades via their paces, forward of Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon, who limped his Williams again to his storage with quarter-hour remaining with what the crew mentioned was a priority within the information, although the Thai driver was in a position to rejoin the monitor later within the session.
Yuki Tsunoda accomplished the highest 10 for RB simply 0.006s forward of teammate Liam Lawson.
Pierre Gasly was twelfth quickest for Alpine forward of George Russell, whereas Sergio Perez led the way in which on a troubled night for Pink Bull Racing in 14th.
Zhou Guanyu and Fernando Alonso adopted in fifteenth and sixteenth, beating a depressing Max Verstappen. The Dutchman was 1.081s off the tempo after complaining of significant drivability points along with his Pink Bull Racing automobile, together with “ridiculous” understeer.
The automobile’s recalcitrance noticed him clambering over the curbs at Flip 3 late within the session, triggering fears he might need broken his plank, however he accomplished the session with out intervention.
Lance Stroll was 18th for Aston Martin forward of Alpine debutant Jack Doohan and Williams rookie Franco Colapinto, whose session ended after simply 10 laps when the Argentine clattered over the curbs at Flip 9 and did appreciable injury to his flooring.
