Abu Dhabi GP: Verstappen quickest in FP2 from Russell, Leclerc
Max Verstappen was fastest in FP2 of F1 Abu Dhabi GP from George Russell and Charles Leclerc under the floodlights.
The FP2 session in F1 Abu Dhabi GP was mostly sedate as well under the floodlights at Yas Marina circuit as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen returned to the cockpit to lead the standings with a 1m25.146s lap from Mercedes’ George Russell (1m25.487s).
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (1m25.599s) was third to make it three different teams in the Top 3, as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (1m25.761s) was fourth from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez (1m25.852s) and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz (1m25.932s) to make it the Top 3 teams in the Top 6 of the standings.
The Alpine pair led the best of the rest pack with Esteban Ocon (1m26.038s) ahead of Fernando Alonso (1m26.043s), while McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m26.124s) was eighth despite some floor troubles. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas (1m26.300s) ended up in 10th.
The other McLaren of Lando Norris was 11th from Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, who did have a run-off moment along with Verstappen and Leclerc. The Ferraris were also trialing experimenting with different wheel covers in the session.
Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was 13th from Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll with the lead AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda in 15th. Williams’ Alexander Albon was 16th from Haas’ Mick Schumacher, as teammate Kevin Magnussen was 17th.
The Dane had a moment with Hamilton, where he almost blocked him in the corner. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was 19th where he couldn’t set his best time on the soft tyres, with Williams’ Nicholas Latifi rounding the 20 runners.
