Hamilton leads Ocon in second practice, Verstappen fourth

The Mercedes driver was 0.343s quicker than Esteban Ocon’s Alpine during the qualifying simulation runs on soft tyres, with teammate Valtteri Bottas taking third after surviving a hit with the barriers when he got out of shape at Turn 14. 

Max Verstappen could only manage the fourth-fastest time in his Red Bull as he finished 0.641s adrift of his championship rival Hamilton. 

The two title rivals are level on points going into Sunday’s winner-takes-all contest at the revised Yas Marina Circuit. 

FP2 is the most representative and important practice session in Abu Dhabi given that it takes place under the lights at the same time as qualifying and the grand prix. 

Sergio Perez ended up less than a tenth behind Red Bull teammate Verstappen to take fifth, while Fernando Alonso put his Alpine sixth. 

Yuki Tsunoda continued his impressive start to the weekend as he outpaced Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to finish seventh. 

His AlphaTauri teammate Pierre Gasly completed the top-10 order. 

Kimi Raikkonen, who is contesting the final race of his illustrious F1 career, brought out a late red flag when he crashed his Alfa Romeo at Turn 14. 

After sitting out of FP1 for Jack Aitken, George Russell returned to his FW43B to edge out Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi for the 17th-fastest time of the session. 

Latifi picked up rear wing damage with a spin into the barriers at Turn 13 but was able to keep going in FP2. 

The Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin once again ended up with the slowest times of all as Friday’s action came to a close.