Lando Norris Fastest As Charles Leclerc Hit With 10-Place Grid Penalty In Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

British driver Lando Norris led Australian team-mate Oscar Piastri in second practice on Friday as McLaren turned up the heat in their bid to secure the constructors' title at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc had topped the opening practice session at the Yas Marina Circuit ahead of Norris and Lewis Hamilton, but the Monegasque driver was then penalised for taking a new battery pack on his car. Leclerc's 10-place grid penalty for Sunday's race compromises the Italian team's bid to capture a first constructors' title since 2008.

Ferrari are seeking to overturn a 21-point deficit on leaders McLaren, who last won the constructors' title in 1998, this weekend.

Norris clocked one minute and 23.517 seconds to beat Piastri by two-tenths of a second, ahead of third-placed Nico Hulkenberg of Haas.

Carlos Sainz was fourth fastest in the second Ferrari followed by seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, the British driver in his last race weekend with Mercedes.

Leclerc was sixth in the second Ferrari ahead of Sauber's Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen in the second Haas, Williams' Alex Albon and RB's Yuki Tsunoda.

The feuding George Russell of Mercedes and newly-crowned four-time world champion Max Verstappen struggled to find the pace and wound up 13th and 17th, respectively, in a largely uneventful twilight session.

It began in cooling conditions after a hot day as the sun set in Abu Dhabi, RB's Liam Lawson setting the early pace in 1:25.537, before Leclerc took over and then Norris. Hamilton slotted into second to repeat the top three from opening practice.

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