Lewis Hamilton goes quicker than his title rival Max Verstappen by more than half a second in Abu Dhabi FP2… as session is ended early by Kimi Raikkonen smashing into the wall on his last weekend as an F1 driver
Lewis Hamilton drew first blood in the battle for the Formula One title by going over half a second quicker than Max Verstappen in the second practice session in Abu Dhabi on Friday afternoon.
Verstappen had gone fastest in FP1 but couldn’t get anywhere near the pace of the Mercedes man in FP2, eventually finishing a surprising 0.641 seconds behind.
Meanwhile, the session was finished abruptly when Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen took a chunk out of the wall – and, more worryingly, his car – just as the drivers were preparing to head back to the pits.
Lewis Hamilton was far and away the quickest car on track as he took his Mercedes to P1
Hamilton put in a very quick lap time to top the timesheets in free practice two in Abu Dhabi
Max Verstappen could only manage fourth after struggling to keep up with Hamilton’s pace
Hamilton (left) and Verstappen tussled on track, even though it was only a practice session
Thankfully, Raikkonen was able to get out of the car unaided, but his team will have a late night ahead of them trying to fix his Alfa Romeo ahead of FP3 and qualifying on Saturday.
Raikkonen is taking part in his final F1 race after 19 years on track, and despite his notoriously laid-back attitude, will be desperate to be on the grid one final time come Sunday.
At the top of the charts, Hamilton was above and beyond his rivals to go fastest in the second practice session, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon a surprising second.
Verstappen finished fourth in FP2, after earlier topping the charts with his FP1 performance
It was a session to forget for Kimi Raikkonen as he took a chunk out of the wall – and his car
The Alfa Romeo driver was able to climb out of its car, which was then taken back to the pits
Valtteri Bottas was third fastest, while Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso followed.
Ocon’s time was still 0.343 behind Hamilton with the Brit far and away the fastest car on track as the sun set in Abu Dhabi, and it will come as a huge boost to the Brit as he tries to secure his eighth F1 world title this weekend.
Attention now turns to the weekend, where the drivers will again take to the track for FP3, before qualifying to determine the grid for Sunday’s race.
The sun sets on the track after Friday’s practice sessions, which revealed a lot of information
Plenty of cars ran wide as they got used to the new layout at the Yas Marina circuit
Scroll down to recap how both the first and second practice sessions unfolded in Abu Dhabi with Sportsmail’s live blog…