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Abu Dhabi Second Practice: Lando Norris opened the final weekend of the Formula 1 season with a commanding performance in practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver quickly asserted himself at the top of the timesheets, giving him an early boost in a tightly contested title battle.
Norris can seal his first world championship on Sunday if he finishes at least third in the 58-lap finale.
He strengthened those chances by clocking a rapid lap under the Yas Marina floodlights, beating championship rival Max Verstappen by a clear 0.363 seconds.
The strong start sets the tone for what is expected to be a high-stakes finish to the season.
Oscar Piastri, the second McLaren driver still in the title hunt, struggled to find pace and ended Friday’s practice in 11th place.
The result leaves him with work to do as the championship battle tightens.
Norris enters the weekend on the edge of securing his first Formula 1 crown.
He leads the standings with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen 12 points behind, while Piastri remains in the mix, sitting four points further back.
Even with the pressure of the title race, Norris delivered the standout performance of the day.
The British driver, aiming to become the 11th from his country to win the world championship, topped both sessions and set the tone for a decisive weekend at Yas Marina.
Lando Norris edged Max Verstappen by just eight thousandths of a second in the opening practice session.
He then strengthened his position with a commanding lap later in the day, pushing his advantage to nearly four-tenths and closing Friday on top.
The display offered reassurance for the 26-year-old, who has acknowledged that he enters the title decider with the most to lose.
Verstappen, meanwhile, voiced frustration over the balance of his Red Bull.
The car has delivered five wins in its last eight outings, but it struggled to find a comfortable setup throughout Friday’s running.
Max Verstappen reported trouble almost immediately in the first practice session, telling his team that he believed “something is broken on the car.”
Race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase asked where the problem seemed to be coming from, prompting a blunt response from Verstappen: “It is everywhere now.”
The issues added another layer of uncertainty to a weekend already filled with championship tension.
Oscar Piastri, who earlier in the season held a 34-point advantage, enters Sunday’s finale as an outside contender.
The Australian now finds himself more likely to support Lando Norris’ title push than to mount a serious challenge of his own.
Oscar Piastri did not take part in the opening practice session as McLaren handed his seat to Pato O’Ward, one of nine rookies required to run on Friday.
When Piastri returned to action later in the day, he struggled to build momentum.
A lock-up at Turn 6 on his quickest lap halted any chance of improvement, leaving him almost seven-tenths of a second behind teammate Lando Norris.
In the midfield battle, Mercedes worked to strengthen their bid for second place in the constructors’ standings.
George Russell delivered a solid performance, securing third for the team. Ollie Bearman continued to impress with another strong outing for Haas, finishing fourth.
Lewis Hamilton’s challenging debut season with Ferrari showed no signs of easing. He ended the session in 14th place, trailing the fastest time by 0.856 seconds.
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