Charles Leclerc led the way in FP2 of F1 Abu Dhabi GP which saw two red flag periods, with Lando Norris P2 and Max Verstappen P3.
It wasn’t the smoothest and straightest of FP2 in F1 Abu Dhabi GP under the floodlights after two red flag periods shortened the session hugely to hamper everyone’s running. The two flags were waved very close to each other which further delayed proceedings.
The first one was for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz when he had a snap at Turn 3 on the bump and in a dirty air. As the session re-started, Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg lost control over the kerb at Turn 1 to hit the barrier which caused for the second stoppage.
In what was only about 20 minutes of decent running, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led the way with a 1m24.809s lap which was 0.043s quicker than McLaren’s Lando Norris, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third after couple of complaints at pit exit.
At both the re-starts, he felt others cut the queue and some weren’t allowing him to leave. The two Red Bulls were separated by Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas who was fourth in a good show from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez after the Mexican had to go around a second time.
Mercedes’ George Russell was sixth from the other Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in eighth. The Brit had couple of hairy moments in the final run, as the Top 10 were rounded by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
The first of Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was 11th from AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo 12th ahead of the other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was 14th from AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams’ Alexander Albon.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was 17th after his soft run was disrupted and so his best time came on the medium tyres ahead of Williams’ Logan Sargeant and the crashed duo of Sainz and Hulkenberg – both of whose best time was set on the medium compoun.
Here’s how FP1 in F1 Abu Dhabi GP panned out
