Live: F1 Abu Dhabi GP commentary and updates – FP1 & FP2 | Live text

By: James Newbold, Lewis Duncan, Jake Boxall-Legge, Haydn Cobb

Summary


	Summary Verstappen tops Friday practice at the Abu Dhabi GP, 0.3s quicker than Russell in FP2 Hamilton led Mercedes 1-2 in first practice
	Leaderboard Verstappen, Red Bull Russell, Mercedes Leclerc, Ferrari Hamilton, Mercedes Perez, Red Bull Sainz, Ferrari Ocon, Alpine Alonso, Alpine Ricciardo, McLaren Bottas, Alfa Romeo

Status: Stopped

17:14 And that's all from us today, we're off to scout for some lunch. Thanks for joining us, and see you tomorrow!

17:13 Here's the report from FP2 - the last of the season - at Abu Dhabi: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-abu-dhabi-gp-verstappen-heads-russell-in-fp2/10401724/

17:04

17:00 Here's the end of FP2, and Verstappen ends the session top - ahead of Russell, Leclerc and Hamilton.

16:59 Leclerc's pace around that time was in the mid 1m31s, which was a lick slower than the Mercedes duo. Verstappen's in the high 1m30s, for reference.

16:57 Hamilton gets a bit of overtaking practice in with a big DRS run on Zhou into Turn 9. Meanwhile, Leclerc asks "why am I slow?" on his race runs - and the reply is that "our pace is not great". Ferrari isn't exactly optimistic...

16:53 Ricciardo's pitted with a suspected oil leak, as his McLaren was puffing a little bit of smoke. Norris, meanwhile, has come in for a change of tyres.

16:47 "Derates are massive at the moment," Russell reports. That's him not happy with the energy harvesting maps, so Mercedes might need to fiddle with some software.

16:45 After a brief lull in proceedings after the initial flurry of qualifying runs, the majority of the field is back out - and it looks like race run time for the final 15 or so minutes.

16:39 Verstappen does a 1m25.146s to extend his margin at the top of the timesheets. He's three tenths up on Russell as it stands.

16:37 Alonso has put his car into the top 10 now, going eighth behind team-mate Ocon. This is the Spanish driver's last FP2 session for Alpine, and it's going...okay.

16:35 "Apologies for the traffic," Riccardo Musconi says to Russell. "No problemo, as long as it's not there tomorrow," comes a calm reply.

16:33 That's second for Russell, a 1m25.487s - just 0.1s behind Verstappen's headline time. Hamilton then puts his Mercedes fourth after setting the best first-sector time of the session.

16:32 Zhou's displaced Hamilton from the top 10 with his latest lap, but the Mercedes driver is starting to go quite quickly. Russell's on a quick one too...

16:30 It's Verstappen, Leclerc, Perez, Ocon, Sainz, Bottas, Russell, Norris, Vettel and Hamilton completing the upper half of the field so far, as Vettel's aforementioned lap got him into ninth.

16:29 We've got the two Aston Martins on soft-tyre laps - and once they're done, we'll have a half-hour top 10 order...

16:28 "What's this patch in our pit box? There's a slippery patch," Ricciardo reports. He's not happy with a slightly shiny bit there as he pulls in to pit.

16:27 Perez briefly moved up to second, but has been displaced by Leclerc once more. Ocon returns to the upper end of the timing board, slotting his car into fourth.

16:24 Albon goes eighth on the softs, before Bottas fires his Alfa Romeo up to third on the quickest compound.

16:23 Lots more takers for the soft now, as Latifi peppers the timing board with a few purple sectors - but goes 10th. Schumacher, meanwhile, wants Haas to take a look at the floor.

Live: F1 Abu Dhabi GP commentary and updates – FP1 & FP2

Follow minute-by-minute updates on Friday practice at the Formula 1's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

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