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 tender tires got here round midway by means of 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 observe after having surrendered his automotive 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 automotive. He was in any other case extra carefully matched across the lap.
It bodes nicely for McLaren’s protection of the championship lead, with fourth place the perfect 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 larger emphasis on the Monegasque’s race tempo anyway. However Leclerc harbored issues about that, too, exclaiming McLaren are “actually quick” when informed of the rival group’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 by means of their paces, forward of Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon, who limped his Williams again to his storage with quarter-hour remaining with what the group mentioned was a priority within the information, although the Thai driver was capable of rejoin the observe 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 best way on a troubled night for Crimson 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 Crimson Bull Racing automotive, together with “ridiculous” understeer.
The automotive’s recalcitrance noticed him clambering over the curbs at Flip 3 late within the session, triggering fears he may 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 harm to his flooring.
