Formula 1 News: Norris and Verstappen again 1-2 in Abu Dhabi GP Practice 2

Championship leader Lando Norris (pictured), driving the superior McLaren designed by Rob Marshall, turned a lap of 1m23.083s to easily top practice 2 for the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP around the Yas Marina Circuit.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Max Verstappen, 2nd in Practice 1, was again 2nd in Practice 2, 0.363s behind Norris, not a bad result given he is driving the Red Bull RB21 dog.

George Russell was third in the #63 Mercedes, 0.379s behind Norris.

Oliver Bearman was 4th for Haas, 0.418s behind the McLaren of Norris.

Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top-5 for Sauber, 0.467s behind Norris, while Oscar Piastri only wound up 11th.

Hulkenberg and Bortoleto both finished in the top 10 earlier, and they did so again in FP2,  They could well be a factor tomorrow, as could Bearman who described his car as “insane.”

Lewis Hamilton skated off the track – he is a five-time winner here, but was struggling this evening. He is down in P14, nearly nine tenths off the pace and three tenths off his more talented teammate Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen has looked quick all day, and did not complain about his car as much in FP2. Red Bull always finds something overnight too; they are masters as tweaking the setup based on the data and finding another half a tenth.

Piastri is the man with the most to do overnight, with the fewest laps under his belt and no Qualifying simulation run.

So, Norris tops both sessions on Friday. What a way to start. What will he be happier about – the fact he has gapped Verstappen by a bigger margin, or the fact his teammate struggled to extract a full lap on the softs?

Either way, Norris is the man to catch. He topped the representative FP2 session here last season too, and went on to grab pole and the race win. Just for reference.

2025 Abu Dhabi GP Practice 2 Results