#AbuDhabiGP FP2: @LewisHamilton tops time-sheets ahead of @OconEsteban. #F1

Hamilton Abu Dhabi GP FP2 – Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton topped the time-sheets in FP2 at the Abu Dhabi GP ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who was second and Silver Arrow’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas who completed the top three in a session ended early by Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen who crashed out. Championship leader was Max Verstappen fourth for Red Bull.

In a session running in conditions that will take place representative to qualifying and the Grand Prix, FP2 went green in the twilight, with temperatures ten degrees cooler than the opening FP1 session, which was topped by Red Bull’s Verstappen.

Raikkonen lead the pack out in his Alfa, with the Finn setting the early benchmark on a 1:26.603 as he ran the C3 white side-walled harder tyres.

This was soon beaten by Formula E-bound team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi, who posted a 1:26.550 on the C4 yellow-marked mediums, before the Italian was knocked off P1 by Mercedes’ Bottas who set a 1:25.339, also on the medium rubber.

McLaren’s Lando Norris then took over top spot with a 1:25.153, using the quicker C5 red-branded softs, before Hamilton closed the opening five minutes of proceeding hitting the top of the pile on a 1:25.127 using the medium compounds.

Five minutes later, Norris hit back in-front with a 1:25.072 as he continued his stint on the softs, but this was invalidated as the Briton slid beyond the white line at the last corner – an error that was also made by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.

Following behind Norris, Hamilton lowered the benchmark to a 1:24.943, as his initial stint went on until the end of the opening 15 minutes of proceedings, at which point the reigning World Champion pitted after posting the fastest time at a 1:24.126.

This put the Mercedes driver almost a second clear of Verstappen at that phase – the Dutchman also having a lap-time invalidated for running wide at the final corner – with Bottas and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi ending their opening stints by going off in sector three.

Bottas tapped the wall at turn 14, the corner that leads out from underneath the Yas Marina Circuit’s hotel, with the right-rear of his F1 W12 EQ Performance racer, as the Finn pitted so the Mercedes team could check for damage.

Latifi lost the rear of his Mercedes-powered FW43B racer through the turn 13 left, directly underneath the hotel, a few minutes later, suffering considerable damage to his rear wing end-plates.

Bottas was able to return to the track a few minutes after, the first of the front-runners to put on the softer rubber for a qualifying simulation run, but was unable to beat team-mate Hamilton’s benchmark, wounding up 0.146 seconds off.

But after Alonso lost his effort that snuck him ahead of Bottas for his slip off at the final turn 16, the latter went again for another run on the softs and improved to claim P1 with a 1:24.083.

Championship rivals Hamilton and Verstappen then emerged on the softs, but neither were able to beat Bottas’s time on their initial runs, after which Ocon move to the top of the order with a 1:24.034 in his A521 Alpine entry.

Both Hamilton and Verstappen went for another flying lap effort respectively, with the latter failing to better his personal best on his second go, which happened to Hamilton before he was able to find more time on his third on the softs to take top spot on a 1:23.691.

This put the Mercedes driver 0.343 in-front of Ocon, with Bottas a further 0.392 off his team-mate in third and Verstappen 0.691 seconds down in fourth.

The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez completed the top five and ahead of Alpine’s Alonso who was sixth, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who took seventh, Ferrari duo Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who ended the day eighth and ninth respectively with the other AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly rounding out the top ten.

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo ended FP2 in 11th and in-front of Giovinazzi who finished 12th and team-mate Norris who was 13th in the other MCL35M McLaren.

Aston Martin pairing Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll followed in 14th and 15th places respectively.

As the drivers switched to traditional long race run data gathering for the final time on a Friday in the 2021 campaign – there was little action other than Bottas and Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin suffering lock-ups at the turn 16 right-hander that starts the section underneath the W hotel,  right up until the aforementioned Raikkonen crash, which brought out the session-ending red flag.

With just over two minutes left on the clock, Raikkonen lost the rear of his Ferrari-powered C41 Alfa entry as he ran through turn 14 deep into a longer stint on the harder tyres.

The Finn’s car swung around rapidly and hit the same barrier his fellow Finnish-compatriot Bottas tapped earlier hard enough to cause heavy damage to the left-front and left-rear corners, with the C41’s rear wing also destroyed.

The session was immediately red-flagged and not restarted, as Raikkonen ended the session in 16th on the time-sheets.

Williams Racing’s George Russell and Latifi who were 17th and 18th respectively as Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher and Mazepin brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 Free Practice 2 Results Classification: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1107/abu-dhabi/practice-2.html

#AbuDhabiGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen quickest ahead of @ValtteriBottas. #F1

#Formula1 Etihad Airways #AbuDhabiGP 2021 Preview. #F1