F1 Abu Dhabi GP live commentary and updates - FP2
Follow F1's final FP2 session of the year ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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As we start wrapping up this live commentary, I'll hit you with this stat.
Max Verstappen could become the fourth driver to have won the F1 title without leading the championship at any point during the season.
John Surtees (1964), James Hunt (1976) and Sebastian Vettel (2010) are those to have done it up to now.
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing RB6
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
The session may be over but it's a busy track, because no doubt we'll start seeing some practice starts.
That's that then! The perfect day for Norris, who topped FP1 and FP2 with title rival Verstappen second in both. Piastri, meanwhile, nowhere near having skipped FP1 before finishing 11th in second practice.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
An interesting look at laps completed in FP2 and Verstappen, Albon and Lawson lead the way with 29. Ocon has completed the least on 24.
Bit of a boring end to the session with cars just going through their respective programmes. As predicted earlier, the leaderboard hasn't really changed in the last 10 minutes.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Gabriel Bortoleto: "Who's this Ferrari?"
Jose Manuel Lopez: "Leclerc...the big Leclerc."
Bit of a funny exchange between Bortoleto and his Sauber race engineer after encountering the Ferrari on track.
It comes as FP1 saw both Charles and Arthur Leclerc drive for Ferrari as part of F1's young driver rule. Lewis Hamilton is now back though, but has spent much of FP2 in the bottom half.
Arthur Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
"Don't think he's totally dialled in yet, but he'll get there," Zak Brown tells Sky Sports regarding Piastri.
For the sake of a dramatic title showdown, let's hope he does because he's been nowhere in this FP2 session.
Zak Brown, McLaren
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
Cars are back out and many are onto the harder compounds as expected. They'll be going through their long-run programmes now and so it's unlikely that the leaderboard will change much in the final 15 minutes.
Once again, good from Sauber which is fifth and sixth in this session after finishing fifth and seventh in FP1.
Hulkenberg and Bortoleto seem to be giving Peter Sauber a good send-off before the Audi takeover next year.
Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
"I don't know how it's so good," reported a jubilant Bearman, who is fourth in his Haas. Don't sound so surprised Oli, you did finish fourth in Mexico not long ago!
Looks like the hectic soft-tyre window is now coming to a close with half the grid back in their respective garages. Happy days for Lando and Max, but not Oscar.
Does it get better for Oscar on his second run? Not really, he remains 10th and was seven tenths off on that lap after a lock up at Turn 7. A lot of work to be done for the Aussie, who was once in complete command of this championship.
Although, Piastri didn't have a great first run on the softs as he is six tenths off the pace with reports of balance issues...
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
And now Norris goes fastest with the softs, ahead of Verstappen and Russell. So yes, sort of similar to FP1 in that the usual frontrunners are now at the front in this soft-tyre window.
Speaking of soft-tyre runs, Red Bull has fitted a set onto Verstappen's car and straight away he's gone quickest with 34 minutes remaining...
Thanks for that Fil, adding on the action, there are resemblances to FP1 which early on had a few random names at the top. That's like now with Bearman and Hadjar being the top two.
It wasn't until the soft-tyre runs around the 30-minute mark that the usual suspects stamped their mark.
I'm standing at Latifi Corner, which is a good spot to see this generation of F1 cars in anger one last time. Judging from the pulsating beats emanating from the packed yachts lining Yas Marina behind, not everyone shares our interest in FP2.
But we're hearing there has been a last minute surge in interest in this weekend after the events of Las Vegas and Qatar. A lot of fans and VIPs made a late effort to be here for the decider.
And it's dangerous to extrapolate too much from a single corner sequence, but you probably don't need us to tell you the Ferrari looks a handful.
It's been a very busy opening 15 minutes with 19 drivers currently on track. All three compounds are in use as well, mostly the mediums, with Hadjar currently top on the softs.
Norris is fastest of those with the mediums and Hulkenberg on the hards.
Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls Team
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images
Verstappen caught out by Norris behind after receiving mixed messages from Lambiase over whether the McLaren was on a fast lap or not.
"What's this guy doing?", was Norris' response. Mind games already started?
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images
ICYMI - Exclusive: Lindblad on his F1 graduation and telling Norris 'I would see him in five years'
By graduating to Racing Bulls in 2026, Britain's Arvid Lindblad has delivered on his own childhood vision that he would somehow make it to Formula 1. Speaking exclusively to Autosport, he tells all about his ambition, his Swedish-Indian family heritage and a promise he made to Lando Norris.
And Bearman is now replaced at the top by another driver on the soft tyre which is Hadjar.
It's no surprise that the quickest time is currently set by one of only two drivers on the soft tyre: Bearman with a 1m24.744s.
Ocon is also on softs with the rest on mediums apart from Hulkenberg and Colapintio, who have hard rubber.
The hard tyre was predominantly used in the early stages of FP1, but the medium rubber seems the most popular for this more representative second session. It's already a busy track.
FP2 is go!
Who else was in the team principal press conference? Obviously Red Bull's Laurent Mekies with Verstappen also a title contender. But it wasn't all questions about the championship fight, because this week the Austrian outfit announced Hadjar as Verstappen's team-mate for 2026 meaning Tsunoda is without a seat.
On the matter of Tsunoda and his chances of returning to F1, Mekies said: "We have tried everything we could to to support Yuki. At some stage we had to make the difficult call between where we were seeing that going for for the following years.
"I hope and I think that Yuki will get another chance. He will be reserve driver with us next year, you never know what's going to happen.
"We have been we have been quite famous in making fairly swift driver decisions in the past. So, look, when I recall one moment at the end of the season 2024, Yuki was was driving very well. It was very difficult for him to digest."
Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing, Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
McLaren's Zak Brown was also in the Abu Dhabi team boss press conference and he was asked about the prospect of team orders between Lando and Oscar come Sunday.
“In the sense of team orders, as long as both drivers have a chance to win the world championship – which they clearly do sitting here right now – then it's business as usual, they're free to race,” said Brown.
“Obviously we’ll be practical and realistic. If, as the weekend develops, as the race develops, it becomes clear that one has a significantly better chance than another, then we're a team that wants to win the drivers' championship, and we will race accordingly to do whatever we can to get whatever that driver is in front to try and win the race.
“Our team orders have been around giving equal opportunity to win the championship, but as the race plays out, if it becomes clear that both can't, then we're going to do what's in the best interest of the team and try and win the drivers' championship.”
Away from the title picture, it was a strong FP1 for Sauber as Hulkenberg finished fifth with Bortoleto seventh. It will be the final race for the Swiss squad before it becomes the Audi works team next year.
Over to team principal Jonathan Wheatley, who said: "We have Peter Sauber [team founder] with us this weekend. Peter and I get on brilliantly.
"What we want to do is sign off on this incredible journey in Formula 1 for the Sauber name by making him as proud as we can on Sunday and putting to bed respectfully the Sauber legacy as we move forward into becoming the Audi F1 team."
Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
No doubt the McLaren driver will be happy to be back for FP2...
Hello, and welcome to live commentary of second practice for this weekend's Abu Dhabi GP!
By: Ed Hardy
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