Max Verstappen heads Practice 2

Max Verstappen was fastest in Practice 2 at Abu Dhabi 0.341s ahead of Brazilian Grand Prix winner George Russell with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in third.

Leclerc set the early pace, as Ricciardo had a moment on his first lap – “I nearly lost it in Turn 3” – before returning to pit lane where McLaren changed the Australian’s rear suspension.

Leclerc set a 1:26.045 on medium tyres from Ocon and Vettel; Bottas (1:27.717) in fifth was the fastest in hard tyres.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, Williams’ Alex Albon and the pole sitter from last week’s Brazilian Grand Prix, Kevin Magnussen, were the only other drives on hard tyres early in the session.

Fresh off winning his first Grand Prix, George Russell was in the mix, setting third-fastest before 2022 World Champion Max Verstappen jumped ahead of him.

After 15 minutes the order was: Leclerc, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, Verstappen, Russell, Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu, Yuki Tsunoda – the only driver in the Top Ten on hard rubber – and Sebastian Vettel.

After the changes, Riccardo went P9 on the medium tyre, while moments later Verstappen was complaining of brake pedal issues – before going fastest with a 1:25.355.

Mick Schumacher complained of floor damage, with issues exit of 5 and 9 around the Yas Marina layout.

The halfway mark saw Verstappen’s time remain unbeaten, from Leclerc, Perez, Ocon, Sainz, Bottas, Russell, Norris, Vettel and Hamilton – 1.188s covering the Top Ten.

Only Ricciardo in 16^th remained on medium tyres with the rest of the field on soft Pirellis.

The Mercedes pushed together, Russell landing second-fastest 0.152 behind Verstappen, while Hamilton jumped to fourth 0.494 off the reigning world champion’s time.

An incident between Sainz and the Hass of Mick Schumacher – rumoured to be heading to Mercedes in a reserve driver role – which saw the Haas peel suddenly off the circuit had the Spaniard flummoxed.

Vettel suffered a significant lock-up at the end of the straight, on his second set of soft tyres, while Ricciardo set ninth fastest – finally – 37 minutes into the hour-long session. The Australian also complained about a slippery patch in his pit bay affecting his ability to stop his McLaren on its marks.

With 21 minutes remaining, Verstappen’s 1:25.335 set 15 minutes into the session was finally beaten, the Dutchman himself the driver to do so with a 1:25.146.

As the sun began setting and the floodlights were turned on, the field began completing longer race simulation runs as the time sheets stayed relatively static.

Issues at Ferrari saw Sainz asking for assurance that the mechanics were okay, after one of them was caught up on a tyre during a pit stop, while with four minutes to go, Leclerc asked his race engineer: “Why are we so slow?”.

At the chequered flag, Verstappen remained on top ahead of Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton, Perez and Sainz, before Ocon, Alonso, Ricciardo and Botts rounding out the Top Ten.

Practice 3 starts at 14:30 local time (21:30 AEDT) Saturday November 19.

Results: Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Free Practice 2