In a weekend where McLaren are gunning for their first constructors’ title since 1998, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri came out of the blocks quickly on Friday in Abu Dhabi, taking a papaya one-two in Free Practice 2.
Norris stopped the clocks with a 1m 23.517s, 0.234s clear of Piastri – with McLaren heading into the weekend 21 points to the good over rivals Ferrari, Carlos Sainz fastest for them in P4, with Charles Leclerc P6 but with a 10-place grid drop coming his way for Sunday’s race.
FP2: Norris leads team mate Piastri and Hulkenberg during second practice in Abu Dhabi
Between Piastri and Sainz came the eyebrow-raising pacey Nico Hulkenberg, taking third place in FP2 on his final appearance for Haas this weekend before his move to Kick Sauber.
While the German was fast, Red Bull were not, Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen ending FP2 in an unhappy P14 and P17 respectively – while there were struggles for Williams too, Franco Colapinto damaging his floor, as Alex Albon was forced to deal with apparent power unit issues aboard his FW46.
Watch the highlights from Free Practice 2 at the Yas Marina Circuit.
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