F1 Abu Dhabi GP: Leclerc quickest in disrupted FP2 after Sainz, Hulkenberg crashes

Charles Leclerc headed second practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in a twice red-flagged Formula 1 session, as Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg both crashed.

The two incidents left only a quarter of an hour of real running at the end of the session, in which Leclerc posted a 1m24.809s to fire his way up to the top of the order - then at the expense of the two Alfa Romeos who had opened the last-gasp soft-tyre running with good pace.

Prior to the red flags, George Russell had landed on top of the pile to reprise his position from FP1 with a 1m25.906s on the medium tyre, which allowed him to overhaul brief headliner Kevin Magnussen by half a second.

Carlos Sainz's snap on the entry to Turn 3 pitched his Ferrari into the wall, producing a red flag after eight minutes had elapsed. The Spaniard felt that dirty air from the car ahead and a bump during the right-hand bend was to blame for the incident.

This sapped away at worthwhile running for the 10 drivers who had missed FP1, as they took a back seat in a last-ditch effort to fulfil the rookie driver regulations for free practice sessions.

This caused a lengthy delay as track workers had to repair the affected Tecpro barrier, which prompted a 27-minute pause in proceedings.

When the session was resumed with 25 minutes left on the clock, it was paused once again three minutes later as Nico Hulkenberg hit the wall at Turn 1 after losing the rear on the exit kerb and going into the opposite armco barrier backwards.

This delay was mercifully shorter than the first and yielded 16 minutes of further action as drivers sought to collect the last vestiges of running available.

Lando Norris set a 1m25.625s on the medium tyre to vault to the top, and then quickly dispatched by his soft tyre-shod team-mate Oscar Piastri's effort.

The two Alfa Romeos then swept to the top, with Valtteri Bottas placing his car at the zenith of the order with a 1m25.024s on the softs, with Zhou a further three tenths behind. The two were split by Pierre Gasly before they were relegated down a position by Leclerc's 1m24.809s.

Norris improved to a 1m24.852s to claim second on the timing board, while Max Verstappen was third fastest having been just over a tenth shy of the McLaren.

Verstappen was visibly aggrieved on the first restart to the session with the Williams duo attempting to blend into the queue to leave the pitlane, asking for their actions to be reported.

He then bravely threaded his car past the two Mercedes in the underground crossover on the second restart, having felt he was getting blocked. Further frustrations emerged when he complained of the car "bouncing like a kangaroo" in the final sector.

Bottas' time was good enough for fourth, holding off an effort from Sergio Perez; although the Mexican had set the best middle sector, he backed out of his lap at the final complex and thus had to rely on a later effort with the best taken out of his tyres.

Russell was sixth ahead of Zhou, as Lewis Hamilton managed eighth having earlier ceded control of his W14 to Frederik Vesti in FP1. Gasly and Piastri completed the top 10, a scant margin clear of Fernando Alonso.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix FP2 results

Driver Info

Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	16	1'24.809		224.169
2	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	18	+0.043 1'24.852	0.043	224.056
3	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	17	+0.173 1'24.982	0.130	223.713
4	V. Bottas Alfa Romeo	77	Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	16	+0.215 1'25.024	0.042	223.602
5	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	17	+0.303 1'25.112	0.088	223.371
6	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	17	+0.313 1'25.122	0.010	223.345
7	Z. Guanyu Alfa Romeo	24	Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	18	+0.414 1'25.223	0.101	223.080
8	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	16	+0.506 1'25.315	0.092	222.840
9	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	15	+0.512 1'25.321	0.006	222.824
10	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	18	+0.552 1'25.361	0.040	222.719
11	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	17	+0.588 1'25.397	0.036	222.626
12	D. Ricciardo AlphaTauri	3	AlphaTauri	Red Bull	16	+0.658 1'25.467	0.070	222.443
13	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	17	+0.683 1'25.492	0.025	222.378
14	E. Ocon Alpine	31	Alpine	Renault	17	+0.757 1'25.566	0.074	222.186
15	Y. Tsunoda AlphaTauri	22	AlphaTauri	Red Bull	17	+0.860 1'25.669	0.103	221.919
16	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	20	+1.272 1'26.081	0.412	220.857
17	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	Haas	Ferrari	18	+1.604 1'26.413	0.332	220.008
18	L. Sargeant Williams	2	Williams	Mercedes	17	+1.850 1'26.659	0.246	219.384
19	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	Ferrari	Ferrari	4	+1.898 1'26.707	0.048	219.262
20	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	7	+2.338 1'27.147	0.440	218.155
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