British driver Lando Norris led Australian teammate Oscar Piastri in second practice on Friday, as McLaren ramped up their effort to win the manufacturers’ championship at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led the first practice session at the Yas Marina Circuit, ahead of Norris and Lewis Hamilton, but the Monegasque driver was later punished for installing a new battery pack in his car.
This weekend, Ferrari will look to erase a 21-point deficit to leaders McLaren, who last won the constructors’ title in 1998. Norris won by two-tenths of a second over Piastri, with Nico Hulkenberg of Haas finishing third.
Carlos Sainz was fourth fastest in the second Ferrari, followed by seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, a British driver in his final race weekend with Mercedes. Leclerc finished sixth in the second Ferrari, ahead of Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen in the second Haas, Williams’ Alex Albon, and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda.
The battling George Russell of Mercedes and freshly crowned four-time world champion Max Verstappen, both of Mercedes, struggled to find the pace, finishing 13th and 17th, respectively, in a mostly quiet twilight session.
It began in cooler circumstances following a sweltering day as the sun set in Abu Dhabi, with RB’s Liam Lawson setting the early pace in 1:25.537, followed by Leclerc and then Norris. Hamilton finished second, repeating his top three placement from the first session.
– Verstappen Baby News –
Verstappen sat out the earlier run, grumbling about his front axle performance, while a social media post stated that he will become a father for the first time with Kelly Piquet, daughter of Brazil’s triple world winner Nelson Piquet. Piquet’s daughter was born in 2019 to former Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat of Russia.
The understeer is crazy,” stated the Dutchman on team radio, while Russell, with whom he has fallen out in the dramatic, bitter way, claimed his “cockpit is still quite toasty,” alluding Between sessions, Red Bull’s head Christian Horner responded to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff’s description of him as a “yapping little terrier” for meddling in the Verstappen-Russell feud by calling the Mercedes driver “hysterical”. “I love terriers,” Horner added. “I think they are amazing dogs. I’ve got four.