Lando Norris leads McLaren 1-2 in second practice for F1 Abu Dhabi GP

Lando Norris headed the timesheets in second practice for the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

McLaren were the team to beat in second practice, with Norris leading his teammate by just over two-tenths.

The Woking-based outfit could clinch their first F1 constructors’ title since 1998 - they sit 21 points ahead of Ferrari going into Sunday’s race.

The odds are firmly stacked in McLaren’s favour, particularly as Charles Leclerc will take a 10-place grid penalty for an engine component change.

Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg was McLaren’s nearest challenger in FP2, setting the third-best time, 0.462s off the pace.

Carlos Sainz ended up fourth-fastest in the lead Ferrari, 0.582 seconds off Norris’ best time, while Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top five for Mercedes.

Charles Leclerc was sixth-fastest after encountering traffic, just ahead of Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, potentially on his final outing in F1.

Kevin Magnussen, Alex Albon, and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top 10 in second practice at the Yas Marina Circuit.

A Difficult Session for Red Bull

It was a tough session for the two Red Bulls.

Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen were 14th and 16th respectively.

Verstappen complained about the handling of his RB20 on several occasions over team radio. He reported: “It’s bad. It’s really my problem with the car. The front axle is just not working.”

Red Bull won’t be overly worried, though, given they were able to make significant improvements ahead of qualifying in Qatar after a difficult sprint part of the weekend.

They will have another practice session ahead of qualifying tomorrow to fine-tune their car.