Leclerc Leads Crash-Striken Abu Dhabi Practice

ABU DHABI — During a crash-marred practice session in Abu Dhabi on Friday, Charles Leclerc survived the chaos to set the fastest lap in his Ferrari.

Leclerc’s best time around the Yas Marina Circuit was 1 minute, 24.809 seconds.

Two red flags were brought out during the second free practice session — one for Carlos Sainz’s spin in turn three and another for Nico Hulkenberg after he spun into the barrier in turn one.

McLaren F1’s Lando Norris was second in practice with a 1-minute, 24.852-second lap time.

This year’s champion, Max Verstappen, was third in his Red Bull Racing entry. He’ll be looking to close out the season by earning his 19th win of the year this Sunday at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — which would further extend his F1 record. 

“We had limited track time in FP2 so we weren’t able to learn as much as we wanted to. I didn’t expect the balance to be so far off, there was a lot of understeer and jumping. There’s a lot to figure out in tomorrow’s practice session,” Verstappen said. 

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was fourth, while Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez finished fifth.

George Russell, Zhou Guanyu, Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly and Oscar Piastri completed the top 10. 

“FP2 was a very frustrating session for me, and I suspect for all the drivers out there. We got very little running in the end, and a lack of consecutive laps too, which is what we most want to achieve on a Friday,” Hamilton said.