Skipping FP1 was no hassle for Max Verstappen as he went fastest in Practice 2 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
After handing his car to Liam Lawson for the first session, the reigning champion hit the circuit for the first time this weekend as the sun set at Yas Marina.
And after doing an initial run on medium tyres, Verstappen soon switched to the soft compound and completed three flying laps with a best of 1m25.146s.
That put the Dutchman three-tenths clear of George Russell’s Mercedes in second, though the Briton had plenty of traffic to weave through in the final sector of his best lap.
That golden hour glow ☀️#AbuDhabiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/hPDa78a3VF
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 18, 2022
Charles Leclerc was third, but was unhappy with Ferrari’s pace on the long run, which appeared some way off that of the Red Bulls and Mercedes’.
FP1 pacesetter Lewis Hamilton slipped to fourth in the evening session. Ahead of Sergio Perez, who was seven-tenths slower than Verstappen in fifth. Carlos Sainz completed the top six in the second Ferrari.
Esteban Ocon was just 0.005s faster than teammate Fernando Alonso as Alpine led the midfield pack in seventh and eighth.
Daniel Ricciardo was ninth but missed the long run due to an oil leak causing smoke to rise from his McLaren.
Valtteri Bottas made it consecutive top 10’s in Friday practice for Alfa Romeo in P10.
Traffic troubles for Lewis in FP2 ?#AbuDhabiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/3689dNhncU
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 18, 2022
The session was largely incident-free, though Kevin Magnussen did have two close calls with Hamilton and Sainz as he impeded them on track.
Sebastian Vettel also overstepped the limit when he locked up into Turn 7 during the low fuel runs.
Full results from Practice 2 can be seen below:
Here’s how FP2 finished ?#AbuDhabiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/fk7blonXbl
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 18, 2022