FP2: Norris leads team mate Piastri and Hulkenberg during second practice in Abu Dhabi

Lando Norris ended the opening day of action at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on top, leading the way from Oscar Piastri and Nico Hulkenberg in a busy second practice session as McLaren established themselves as the team to beat.

After six rookie drivers took part in the first practice session of the weekend, the drivers of 2024 were back together again as Piastri, Carlos Sainz, Max Verstappen, Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon returned to the fray.

HIGHLIGHTS: Relive FP1 in Abu Dhabi as Leclerc goes quickest while young drivers shine

With the sun beginning to set at the Yas Marina Circuit, the grid took to the track for what would be the most representative session ahead of Sunday’s 58-lap race, which is set to take place at the same time in the early evening.

Following the news that Charles Leclerc will face a 10-place grid drop for exceeding the allocation of Energy Stores, the Ferraris were two of the first cars out on track as they suffered a dent in their hopes of overhauling McLaren’s lead in the constructors’ standings.

The Monegasque driver initially settled in behind Lando Norris, who set an early benchmark on the medium compound with a time of 1m 25.020s, with everyone fighting through traffic to clock their first fast laps.

As the session marched on, the Ferrari versus McLaren battle that the sport has become accustomed to this season continued to ramp up as Norris, Sainz, Leclerc and Piastri all jostled for top spot on the timesheets.

READ MORE: ‘He’s made it personal’ – Russell accuses Verstappen of ‘crossing a line’ over Qatar stewards’ room fallout

Meanwhile, this year’s champion Verstappen suffered a messy lap that saw him rattle over the kerbs – Alpine’s Jack Doohan also appeared to struggle at times, locking up his tyres as he continues his first full race weekend.

In the last half of practice, the drivers took advantage of the cooling track temperatures to carry out some qualifying simulation laps, with Norris coming out on top with a lap time of 1m 23.517s ahead of team mate Piastri and high-flying Haas driver Hulkenberg.

Sainz was 0.582s behind the pace-setter in fourth, just edging out Lewis Hamilton in his final weekend with Mercedes as Leclerc took P6. Valtteri Bottas was another stand-out driver of the session in seventh as Kevin Magnussen, Albon and Tsunoda rounded out the top 10.

Liam Lawson narrowly missed out in 11th, ahead of Pierre Gasly and an out-of-position George Russell. The Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Verstappen were similarly far down the order in P14 and P17 respectively, with the Dutchman struggling with front axle issues.

READ MORE: Williams duo Albon and Colapinto take grid penalties for Abu Dhabi GP after gearbox changes

Zhou Guanyu took 15th ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso as Stroll, Doohan and Franco Colapinto completed the order – the Williams driver forced to sit out the final portion of FP2 as the team assessed floor damage on his car.

The teams will now have plenty to look at ahead of the final practice hour and critical qualifying session tomorrow, with FP3 kicking off at 1430 local time.