Charles Leclerc topped the second practice session for the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which was cut short, interrupted twice by Red flag periods after Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg crashed.
In the end, the drivers got just 25 minutes of effective running after the time lost due to the crashes of Sainz and Hulkenberg, meaning that they head into the second day of running at Yas Marina on the back foot, with just a handful of laps drive.
Sainz crashed ten minutes into the session and caused a lengthy Red flag as the barriers at Turn 3 needed repair, while Hulkenberg crashed moments after the session was green-lighted causing the second stoppage.
Leclerc missed out on FP1, giving his SF-23 to Robert Shwartzman, but was on it almost immediately in the second practice session, finishing the session fastest of all.
Lando Norris seemed to be in good form as well, also missing out on FP1 as Pato O'Ward took his place. The Briton was second fastest.
Triple Formula 1 Champion Max Verstappen was third fastest in the Red Bull, and was also returning into the cockpit after 2023 Formula E Champion Jake Dennis borrowed his RB19 for FP1.
Buildup towards FP2
The first practice session in Abu Dhabi was somehow the time for the rookies to enjoy their 15 minutes of fame, and indeed Felipe Drugovich made the best out of it, setting the second fastest time in the Aston Martin behind Mercedes' George Russell.
FP2 will back to business as usual with all regular F1 drivers now back into their cars as the serious preparation for the rest of the weekend begins.
The first session was somehow straight forwards, with no big shunts, as a handful of drivers seemed to get caught out by the wind out of the final corner, which caused some "over-steery" moments, but no crashes though.
Ferrari did not seem to get off to a strong start, Carlos Sainz way off the time of Russell, which won't be a good sign for the Reds if they want to beat the Black Arrows to second in the 2023 F1 Constructors' Standings.
McLaren seemed better than Ferrari as well, but we cannot draw the full picture as Norris and Leclerc did not take part in FP1 and are usually a better measure of their respective cars' pace.
As for Red Bull, their rookies, Dennis and Isack Hadjar were way down the order in a territory the RB19 is not used to, but that will soon change as Verstappen and Sergio Perez take over for the afternoon session around the Yas Marina Circuit.
Abu Dhabi FP2 session highlights
FP2, running in more representative conditions similar to those in qualifying and the grand prix started under cooler temperatures than FP1, with track temperatures dropping to 35 degrees Celsius, and ambient temperatures down to 27 degrees.
The Hard and Medium tyres were the compounds in use at the start of FP2, the drivers wasting no time heading out on track, to make use of the best 60 minutes available to set their cars up.
The drivers started setting lap times, working on dialing their cars in, the drivers missing on FP1 especially eager
Less than ten minutes into the session, Sainz brought out the Red flags as he crashed heavily after getting out of shape out of Turn 3.
While it seemed Sainz bottomed out, he came over the radio informing his team that dirty air from the car in front of him caused his violent snap.
The good thing, he was fine and was soon on his way back to the pits in the medical car, as the marshals worked on getting his SF-23 out of the way, but the Red Car seemed to be in very bad shape.
It was a length Red flag period as Sainz's stricken Ferrari was cleared and the barriers were checked and repaired, with the session resumed with 25 minutes remaining on the clock.
But then, three minutes after that, the second Red flag was out, as Hulkenberg binned his Haas at the exit of Turn 1, taking too much kerb and spun into the barriers banging his rear right tyre so hard he couldn't drive back to the pits.
The German also damaged his rear wing badly.
The session was resumed with a little over 15 minutes remaining, all drivers still having to go through qualifying runs as well as heavy fuel runs. Not ideal.
Verstappen was impatient overtaking two Mercedes cars that were too slow for him in the pit exit in the tunnel, squeezing past them, while Russell immediately reported the Dutchman.
The drivers were on a mix of Medium and Soft tyres, each team clearly running their own program trying to make the best of the remaining time.
Soon the Soft tyres became the more used compound as the drivers set out on qualifying runs.
Verstappen then reported his RB19 was "jumping like a kangaroo in the last sector", before he returns to the pits. He returned on new Soft tyres, but had a close call with Oscar Piastri at the pit exit.
It seems the Red Bull pit wall did not inform him about the Australian until it was too late. Thankfully though there was no contact.
In the end, the running was not enough as much as the teams and drivers would've like, the session ending with Leclerc on top.
How they finished
Leclerc clocked a 1:24.809 to go fastest around the Yas Marina Circuit on Friday afternoon, 0.043s faster than Norris who was second fastest in the McLaren.
Verstappen was only third fastest, 0.173s off the pace of Leclerc and 0.042s faster than Valtteri Bottas, fourth fastest in the Alfa Romeo.
Perez was fifth fastest in the other Red Bull with a 1:25.112, and was 0.130s off the pace of his teammate in the #1 RB19.
After topping the first practice session, Russell was sixth fastest in FP2, 0.313s off the pace and 0.101s faster than Zhou Guanyu, seventh fastest in the other Alfa Romeo.
Lewis Hamilton was eighth fastest in the second Mercedes, over half a second down on Leclerc's session-topping time and 0.006s ahead of ninth placed Pierre Gasly in the Alpine.
Piastri rounded off the top ten in the McLaren, 0.552s down on the benchmark time, ahead of Fernando Alonso who was 11th.
FP2 Results
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