Norris Tops Friday Practice at 2025 Abu Dhabi GP

McLaren’s Lando Norris completed a Friday Practice double at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Norris arrived at Yas Marina Circuit with a potential maiden F1 title in his own hands from Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, and the 26 year-old Brit topped both practice sessions to lay a marker.

Verstappen however proved to be his nearest rival in both sessions whilst Piastri skipped FP1 for a mandatory rookie driver, but could only finish FP2 in 11th position after a mistake on his fastest lap time.

 

FP1

Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar was first on track as he began his final weekend with the team after his promotion to Red Bull for next season was confirmed less than 48 hours following the Qatar GP.

This session also saw a mix of regular and rookie FP1 drivers which meant a mix of tyre usage in the opening stints as Pato O’ Ward put McLaren top with 1m 27.398, only for Verstappen to displace the Mexican by 0.268 seconds just moments later.

Arvid Lindblad, Carlos Sainz, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Norris, Nico Hulkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto and then Hadjar subsequently went quickest, as the Frenchman set 1m 25.245 on the hard tyres.

Verstappen however went early with his soft-tyre qualifying simulation and set 1m 24.493 in the 28th minute to head Russell by 0.240s as he too went for the soft tyre.

Norris meanwhile had to abort his first soft-tyre flier due to a snap at Turn 2 but he recovered to within 0.026s on his second flier, before he topped practice with 1m 24.485 with 20 minutes left in the session.

Haas’ Ryo Hirakawa was the highest-placed rookie FP1 driver in 11th and only 0.175s behind his teammate – Oliver Bearman who finished eighth fastest despite his session having been curtailed by technical issues.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1m 24.485
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.008
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.016
4	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+ 0.123
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber	+ 0.144
6	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.248
7	Gabriel Bortoleto	Sauber	+ 0.257
8	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 0.274
9	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 0.286
10	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+ 0.370
11	Ryo Hirakawa	Haas	+ 0.449
12	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	+ 0.492
13	Paul Aron	Alpine	+ 0.719
14	Pato O’Ward	McLaren	+ 0.761
15	Arvid Lindblad	Red Bull	+ 0.771
16	Arthur Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.875
17	Ayumu Iwasa	Racing Bulls	+ 0.990
18	Luke Browning	Williams	+ 1.005
19	Jak Crawford	Aston Martin	+ 1.404
20	Cian Shields	Aston Martin	+ 1.947

 

FP2

Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon were straight out on track after the trio were amongst several drivers to sit out FP1, and it was Gasly who set the initial benchmark time of 1m 27.381 but Albon went 1.192s quicker just seconds later.

Sainz and Antonelli subsequently went quicker before Bearman on the soft tyre set 1m 24.744 in the sixth minute, but Hadjar two minutes later too on the soft tyre lowered the benchmark time to 1m 24.167.

Hadjar’s time however went unchallenged until Bearman posted 1m 23.968 just over ten minutes later, ahead of the soft tyre qualifying simulations, which saw Verstappen set 1m 23.446 as the time to beat in the most representative practice conditions ahead of qualifying.

Norris however laid down 1m 23.083 just past the half-hour mark which saw the championship leader complete a Friday Practice double at the season finale.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1m 23.083
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.363
3	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.379
4	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 0.418
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber	+ 0.467
6	Gabriel Bortoleto	Sauber	+ 0.487
7	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	+ 0.574
8	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.575
9	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 0.625
10	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+ 0.667
11	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.680
12	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 0.749
13	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 0.789
14	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 0.856
15	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 0.867
16	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+ 0.875
17	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull	+ 1.220
18	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+ 1.391
19	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+ 1.688
20	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 1.880