Practice report
Formula 1 Abu Dhabi GP
F1 Abu Dhabi GP: Norris leads McLaren 1-2 in FP2
Lando Norris led McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to a 1-2 in FP2 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Alex Kalinauckas
Edited: Dec 6, 2024, 7:32 PM
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Lando Norris led a McLaren 1-2 in second practice for Formula 1’s 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi, with Nico Hulkenberg third for Haas.
At Red Bull, Max Verstappen was again frustrated with his RB20’s handling as he ended up down in 17th, while McLaren’s constructors’ title rival Ferrari had a low-key session and Williams endured further setbacks on both its cars.
After Zhou Guanyu set the early first-place benchmark at 1m26.179s, which Liam Lawson bettered immediately to a 1m25.537s on the opening runs on the medium tyres at the start of the one-hour twilight session, Norris got ahead of both with his opening 1m25.020s.
Oscar Piastri slotted in just behind, before Carlos Sainz went to the top of the times with his first lap of the day now Arthur Leclerc has completed his rookie duties in the Spaniard’s SF-24.
But as the opening 10 minutes ended, Norris went back to first place with a 1m24.332s with his second run on the mediums and he was only temporarily headed thereafter.
Norris might have been temporarily shuffled first back when Franco Colapinto opened the soft-tyre qualifying simulation efforts after a lengthy lull in action just before the halfway stage, but the Argentine driver had to catch an oversteer snap through the fast, long Turn 9 hairpin and damaged his floor over the kerbs as he shot out wide.
Despite repairs being made to the floor, Colapinto did not reappear, while in the other FW46 Alex Albon had to crawl back to the pits at the start of his late-FP2 race simulation after losing drive. But he was able to get out again ahead of the final five minutes, finishing ninth.
Alex Albon, Williams FW46
Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images
Albon had taken that spot during the flurry of soft tyre laps that followed his team-mate’s aborted opening effort on that tyre, with Piastri the first of the frontrunners to do so. He finally did get ahead of Norris with a 1m23.751s – albeit with a big oversteer snap at the opening corner – before his team-mate eased back to the front a few minutes later.
Norris put in a 1m23.517s that put him first by 0.234s, with Sainz intially taking third for Ferrari, 0.582s.
But, with Charles Leclerc losing his opening softs lap after hitting traffic at the Turn 6-7 chicane that splits up the two long acceleration blasts at the Yas Marina track, Hulkenberg was able to nip in ahead with his soft-shod 1m23.979s, 0.462s down on Norris.
After Leclerc had finally set a lap that put him one spot behind soon-to-be new team-mate Lewis Hamilton in fifth and sixth, Hulkenberg had looked set to go even quicker on a second softs flier, but was undone by a slower final sector than his personal best.
Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen finished ahead of Albon in seventh and eighth, with Yuki Tsunoda 10th back aboard his RB car after making way for Ayumu Iwasa in FP1.
Sergio Perez was 14th as the lead Red Bull, with Verstappen three spots back and complaining several times about understeer on his car – the Dutchman’s best time coming in 1.081s down on Norris’s session-leading time.
The race simulations that closed out the session ran without incident, with Leclerc expressing an assessment that the McLarens are also looking very strong on high fuel too when informed about Piastri’s late pace.
Abu Dhabi GP - Free Practice 2
Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info
1
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4
Main Information Additional Data
1
-
2
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval km/h 1 L. Norris McLaren 4
McLaren Mercedes 25
1'23.517
227.637 2 O. Piastri McLaren 81
McLaren Mercedes 28
+0.234
1'23.751
0.234 227.001 3 N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27
Haas Ferrari 28
+0.462
1'23.979
0.228 226.385 4 C. Sainz Ferrari 55
Ferrari Ferrari 28
+0.582
1'24.099
0.120 226.062 5 L. Hamilton Mercedes 44
Mercedes Mercedes 28
+0.602
1'24.119
0.020 226.008 6 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
Ferrari Ferrari 28
+0.684
1'24.201
0.082 225.788 7 V. Bottas Sauber 77
Sauber Ferrari 24
+0.713
1'24.230
0.029 225.710 8 K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20
Haas Ferrari 25
+0.718
1'24.235
0.005 225.697 9 A. Albon Williams 23
Williams Mercedes 22
+0.752
1'24.269
0.034 225.606 10 Y. Tsunoda Racing Bulls 22
RB Red Bull 28
+0.980
1'24.497
0.228 224.997 11 L. Lawson Racing Bulls 30
RB Red Bull 25
+0.986
1'24.503
0.006 224.981 12 P. Gasly Alpine 10
Alpine Renault 27
+1.000
1'24.517
0.014 224.944 13 G. Russell Mercedes 63
Mercedes Mercedes 24
+1.017
1'24.534
0.017 224.898 14 S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11
Red Bull Red Bull 27
+1.038
1'24.555
0.021 224.843 15 Z. Guanyu Sauber 24
Sauber Ferrari 23
+1.040
1'24.557
0.002 224.837 16 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
Aston Martin Mercedes 25
+1.057
1'24.574
0.017 224.792 17 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1
Red Bull Red Bull 26
+1.081
1'24.598
0.024 224.728 18 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18
Aston Martin Mercedes 29
+1.169
1'24.686
0.088 224.495 19 J. Doohan Alpine 61
Alpine Renault 27
+1.444
1'24.961
0.275 223.768 20 F. Colapinto Williams 43
Williams Mercedes 10
+1.748
1'25.265
0.304 222.970 View full results
Photos from Abu Dhabi GP Practice
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday
Formula 1
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