Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes on the top spot after setting the fastest lap in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix second free practice.
Running on the soft tyre compound, the seven-time world champion set a time of 1m 23.691s on the revamped Yas Marina track being the only driver in the 1m 24s. Hamilton’s title rival Max Verstappen ended the session ranking P4, six tenths of a second off the benchmark time.
In the early stages of the session, most drivers opted to run on medium tyres and Hamilton topped the time sheets with 1m 24.9s. Verstappen tried to beat the time but got his time deleted for exceeding track limits. The Red Bull driver later tried his luck again recording 1m 25s. Another driver who got his lap time deleted was Fernando Alonso after trying to be as fast as his teammate Esteban Ocon who was the second fastest.
Valtteri Bottas finished third just three tenths of a second slower than his teammate. With darkness setting in on the track, the drivers had a brief experience of track conditions as they head to the Qualifying round on Saturday and the race on Sunday.
Sergio Perez was the fifth fastest driver behind Verstappen in the sister Red Bull as Fernando Alonso finished P6 despite his lap time getting deleted earlier on.
Yuki Tsunoda put an an impressive performance for AlphaTauri after being the seventh fastest as his teammate Pierre Gasly was down in 10th. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished P8 and P9 respectively.
Daniel Ricciardo led McLaren in 11th place with Lando Norris finishing 13th as Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi separating the duo in 12th place. Sebastian Vettel was the fastest of the Aston Martins at P14 ahead of Lance Stroll.
Kimi Raikkonen was P16 despite bringing out red flags in the closing stages of the session after crashing heavily into the barriers at Turn 14.
George Russell on his first stint of the day finished P17 for Williams ahead of his teammate Nicholas Latifi in P18. Mick Schmacher led Haas in P19 six tenths of a second clear of Nikita Mazepin.
2021 F1 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (2)
| POS | DRIVER | NAT. | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1m23.691s |
| 2 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Alpine F1 Team | 1m24.034s |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1m24.083s |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | NED | Red Bull Racing | 1m24.332s |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | MEX | Red Bull Racing | 1m24.400s |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Alpine F1 Team | 1m24.495s |
| 7 | Yuki Tsunoda | JPN | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1m24.532s |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1m24.557s |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1m24.844s |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1m24.940s |
| 11 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | McLaren F1 Team | 1m24.959s |
| 12 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ITA | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1m25.108s |
| 13 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren F1 Team | 1m25.153s |
| 14 | Sebastian Vettel | GER | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1m25.195s |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1m25.385s |
| 16 | Kimi Raikkonen | FIN | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1m25.440s |
| 17 | George Russell | GBR | Williams Racing | 1m25.549s |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Williams Racing | 1m25.687s |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | GER | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1m25.748s |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | RUS | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1m26.336s |
