McLaren looking fast as Lando Norris quickest in FP2

Credit: Sam Bagnall

Friday race weekend action has concluded in the Formula One World Championship in 2024, as McLaren showed their dominant hand in free practice 2 as British driver Lando Norris was fastest.

McLaren come into this weekend and the season finale with the Constructors Championship lead and they have a 21-point lead over Ferrari heading into the final Grand Prix of the year, with them setting their sights on their first Constructors Championship triumph since 1998 with Mikka Hakkinen and David Coulthard.

Norris was quickest in a McLaren 1-2 as his Australian teammate Oscar Piastri finished in second place as the Ferrari driver could only manage fourth and sixth with Carlos Sainz ahead of Charles Leclerc.

A great effort from the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg saw him claim a fantastic third place in the session. Haas will be hoping they can continue with that pace to finish sixth in the Constructors Championship.

How Free Practice 2 unfolded for the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Following on from a break after free practice 1, it would be time for the Formula 1 cars to return to the track for free practice 2, to complete the Friday track action, which would be the last Friday track action of the 2024 racing season.

Earlier in free practice 1, it would be Charles Leclerc who would set the fastest time for Ferrari by over two tenths of a second to McLaren's Lando Norris, with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton in third.

However, for Leclerc and Ferrari the session would not be smooth and easy for them. At the start of the session, a battery pack issue meant that he would be forced into a change, to take on his third energy store of the season with the maximum allowed being two. 

Due to this swap of component, Leclerc will take a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday's Grand Prix, which is not the start to the weekend Ferrari would have been needing to overhaul a 21-point gap to McLaren in the hunt for the Constructors Championship.

On the other side of the Ferrari garage, Carlos Sainz missed FP1 to make way for a rookie/young driver, which each driver is required to do by the regulations at least once a season. 

Sainz would be joined by five other drivers in giving up his seat in Abu Dhabi and they were: Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, Lance Stroll, Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda. This would give the chance for Arthur Leclerc, Isack Hadjar, Ryo Hirakawa, Felipe Drugovich, Luke Browning and Ayumu Iwasa.

All of the current drivers on the grid would be back in the car for FP2. The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane which would signal the start of the second 60-minute session.

The entire grid would be out within the first few minutes as they wanted to make the most of the hour's temperatures and track surface as it would be the most similar conditions to qualifying and the Grand Pirx. Therefore, it would be more accurate data for the Grand Prix, that would be going to the engineers to aiding strategy calls for qualifying and the race.

Lando Norris would go to the top of the times within the very first laps as everyone had set a lap time within the first five minutes of the session. A 1:25.020 would be Norris' time and that would have him fastest by three tenths of a second to Lewis Hamilton in second.

Norris would assert his dominance once again in the first 10 minutes of the 60-minute session as he would remain top after the first 10, with his former teammate Carlos Sainz in second place for Ferrari.

Further time would pass and lap times would continue to be being laid down by drivers with Norris continuing to have himself up at the top of the timing pages with the McLaren and Ferrari cars having the top four under control.

Soon enough, approaching the halfway point, the drivers would find themselves back in the pit lane with the track empty. Tyre changes would be ongoing during this time as when the pack would return to the circuit they would be on fresh soft tyres in an attempt to practice qualifying laps.

On the soft compound, Lando Norris would remain first but Oscar Piastri would end up moving up into second place to make it a McLaren 1-2. Nico Hulkenberg would also put an extremely impressive lap together as the German would go third fastest.

That would be the way the top three ended up as the chequered flag was out and the sun had set on the Yas Marina Circuit as McLaren would be feeling confident as they look to win their first constructors Championship since 1998.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were fourth and sixth respectively for Ferrari either side of Lewis Hamilton who was fifth. Sauber's Valtteri Bottas finished in a very respectable seventh ahead of Kevin Magnussen in eighth i the second Haas.

Alex Albon of Williams and Yuki Tsunoda of Visa RB completed the top 10.

After a busy day of practice action, Formula 1 will return on Saturday for the final practice session and final qualifying session of the season,

2024 FIA Formula One World Championship: Round 24 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix free practice 2 result

1. Lando Norris (Great Britain, McLaren)
2. Oscar Piastri (Australia, McLaren)
3. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Haas F1 Team)
4. Carlos Sainz (Spain, Scuderia Ferrari)
5. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes)
6. Charles Leclerc (Monaco, Scuderia Ferrari)
7. Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Kick Sauber)
8. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark, Haas F1 Team)
9. Alexander Albon (Thailand, Williams Racing)
10. Yuki Tsunoda (Japan, Visa Cash App RB)
11. Liam Lawson (New Zealand, Visa Cash App RB)
12. Pierre Gasly (France, Alpine F1 Team)
13. George Russell (Great Britain, Mercedes)
14. Sergio Perez (Mexico, Red Bull Racing)
15. Zhou Guanyu (China, Kick Sauber)
16. Fernando Alonso (Spain, Aston Martin)
17. Max Verstappen (Netherlands, Red Bull Racing)
18. Lance Stroll (Canada, Aston Martin)
19. Jack Doohan (Australia, Alpine F1 Team)
20. Franco Colapinto (Argentina, Williams Racing)

Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal