Norris Tops Friday Practice at 2024 Abu Dhabi GP

McLaren’s Lando Norris topped Friday Practice for 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

McLaren are in a constructors’ title decider with Ferrari but the Scuderia drew first blood in FP1 with Charles Leclerc.

Norris however led McLaren’s fightback in FP2 to top the representative practice session from his teammate, Oscar Piastri in a McLaren one-two result.

 

FP1

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and FP1 stand-in, Felipe Drugovich were first out on track, but it was Mercedes’ George Russell who set the early pace on 1m 26.894 on medium tyres.

Russell found 0.931 seconds on his next flier to stay fastest on 1m 25.963 and 0.030s ahead of Lewis Hamilton, but McLaren’s Lando Norris soon made it a British 1-2-3wih 1m 25.710 to go quickest.

In response, Russell posted 1m 25.571 but Hamilton went 0.005s quicker on 1m 25.566 to set the pace from his fellow two Brits at the halfway mark.

Norris however found more pace on the initial soft-tyre run with a benchmark 1m 24.542, which nearly saw him top the session until Leclerc posted 1m 24.321 with nine minutes left to finish fastest.

Out of six FP1 stand-ins, Drugovich was quickest with the ninth overall time and 0.033s quicker than Alonso, whilst Ryo Hirakawa was the second fastest stand-in in 14th position just ahead of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar.

Ayumu Iwasa and Arthur Leclerc (Charles’ younger brother) finished 17th and 18th respectively, as the latter plus Charles made F1 history as the first brothers to drive as teammates in an official session on a race weekend.

Williams’ FP1 debutant, Luke Browning finished last and 2.198s off the pace in a clean session for the Brit.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1m 24.321
2	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.221
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+ 0.485
4	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.844
5	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 1.012
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	+ 1.052
7	Franco Colapinto	Williams	+ 1.061
8	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+ 1.123
9	Felipe Drugovich	Aston Martin	+ 1.150
10	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	+ 1.162
11	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 1.183
12	Liam Lawson	RB	+ 1.242
13	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	+ 1.290
14	Ryo Hirakawa	McLaren	+ 1.553
15	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+ 1.556
16	Guanyu Zhou	Sauber	+ 1.600
17	Ayumu Iwasa	RB	+ 1.800
18	Arthur Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 1.858
19	Jack Doohan	Alpine	+ 1.983
20	Luke Browning	Williams	+ 2.198

 

FP2

Having sat out FP1, RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was first on track and set 1m 26.308 as the initial benchmark time, but it was Norris who set the pace with 1m 25.020 on the medium tyre once many drivers set the first lap times.

There was a triple change in the ninth minute as Oscar Piastri then Leclerc displaced Norris, but the Brit responded with 1m 24.332 to sit top at the end of the opening runs from Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Piastri was the first driver to jump to soft tyres and displaced Norris with 1m 23.751 just past the halfway mark, but Norris responded a minute later with 1m 23.517 to top the session from his McLaren teammate by 0.234s.

Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg was third quickest ahead of Sainz, Hamilton and Leclerc, whilst Colapinto didn’t set a soft-tyre lap time due to floor damage.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1m 23.517
2	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.234
3	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	+ 0.462
4	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+ 0.582
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+ 0.602
6	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.684
7	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	+ 0.713
8	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+ 0.718
9	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 0.752
10	Yuki Tsunoda	RB	+ 0.980
11	Liam Lawson	RB	+ 0.986
12	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 1.000
13	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 1.017
14	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	+ 1.038
15	Guanyu Zhou	Sauber	+ 1.040
16	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 1.057
17	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 1.081
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 1.169
19	Jack Doohan	Alpine	+ 1.444
20	Franco Colapinto	Williams	+ 1.748