Lando Norris closed out Friday at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with authority, topping the second practice session by more than three tenths over Max Verstappen – while McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri endured a muted return to the cockpit and ended only 11th.
The session opened with an unexpected twist as Oliver Bearman and Isack Hadjar ditched the usual build-up phases and bolted straight onto soft tyres.
Their early laps briefly elevated Haas and Racing Bulls to the top of the order, even as most of the grid focused on medium-tyre exploratory running — where Norris was already looking sharp.
Verstappen struck early on the softs, posting a 1m23.446s to set the target. Hadjar came closest in the first wave, falling short by just two tenths. Nico Hülkenberg and George Russell also slotted in brief challenges for second, but none could topple the Red Bull benchmark.
When Norris finally unleashed the C5 compound, he made the lap count. A commanding 1m23.082s fired him to the top, more than three tenths ahead of Verstappen and well clear of the field.
As teams soon transitioned into long-run evaluations, nobody got close to dislodging the McLaren driver.
Russell’s earlier effort held up for third, while Bearman improved further on a later soft-tyre attempt to claim an impressive fourth. The rookie was audibly stunned, describing the Haas as “insane” and marveling at its speed in slower corners.
Hülkenberg secured fifth ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, delivering a strong showing for Sauber in its final weekend before the team officially becomes Audi.
For Piastri, the session was a clear recovery mission. After missing FP1 to allow Pato O’Ward his latest practice outing, the Australian struggled to find balance early in FP2.
McLaren made a series of set-up adjustments in-session, but Piastri remained 0.68s adrift of Norris — leaving more refinement to do before qualifying.
Hadjar secured seventh, followed by Charles Leclerc, with Fernando Alonso — returning to the cockpit after lending his seat to Cian Shields in FP1 — in ninth. Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli rounded out the top ten.
Remarkably, the first 16 drivers were covered by just one second. Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson were the first to fall outside that window, though both had missed FP1 due to young-driver running commitments.
At the rear, the Alpine pairing struggled for pace. Franco Colapinto edged teammate Pierre Gasly by two tenths to close out the order.
Norris, meanwhile, ends Friday exactly where he’ll hope to stay for the rest of the weekend: at the very top.
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