F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc tops practice as Carlos Sainz crashes
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Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg both crashed in an eventful Friday second practice session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The session was shortened to 20 minutes following a near half-hour delay caused by repair work on barriers damaged by Sainz in a heavy crash at Turn Three.
Hulkenberg's off at Turn One then immediately cost another seven minutes.
Sainz's team-mate Charles Leclerc set the pace, just 0.043 seconds ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was third fastest, 0.173secs off the pace, complaining at one point that his car was "bouncing like a kangaroo" in the final sector of the lap around the marina.
"The balance was very off," he said. "A lot of understeer, a lot of jumping. So definitely a few things to figure out to be good in qualifying.
"I did not expect to be so far off. We are still P3 so it is not too bad but we will try to have a look and see what happened there."
Verstappen was also angered by Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton as he was trying to rush out of the pits for the final 15 minutes of the session.
He accused them of "blocking him" over the Red Bull team radio and later said: "They have to move. They are all driving slow and I want to go out because we are all limited on time and they keep on driving in the middle and then when I try to pass they try to squeeze me in the wall, so a bit silly."
McLaren and Ferrari looking good
Verstappen was so eager to get by because he was worried about having sufficient time to complete two flying laps on two different tyre compounds, the medium and soft, in the short time remaining.
Norris, whose team announced on Friday that they had signed an extension of their engine contract with Mercedes until 2030, was encouraged by McLaren's pace.
"It was decent," said the Briton, who was one of several drivers to sit out the first session, as Indycar driver Pato O'Ward was given a run in Norris' McLaren.
"Messy, of course, not many laps today. Five push laps in total, so not the Friday I would want. But I got comfortable and confident very quickly, which is always important on a day when you miss P1. The car was performing pretty well. A few things to look into but otherwise a decent day.
"It is going to be very close here in qualifying - 0.1-0.2secs is easily five or six positions. It is trying to find the little things that can make a big difference. We are in a good position, we are more comfortable and confident than in Vegas."
Russell was sixth fastest, behind the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas and the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
Hamilton, who missed the first session to allow reserve driver Frederik Vesti a run in the car, was eighth, 0.193secs behind Mercedes team-mate Russell.
Seven-time champion Hamilton, who qualified 11th in Las Vegas last weekend, said: "The car doesn't feel bad. I think we're not in a terrible place; I just hope we get some more running on Saturday.
"Just going to try to see if there's a way to get into Q3. We've had difficult qualifying sessions and even just getting into Q3 is a challenge.
"It is going to be close. George is looking good. He might be in a better place but he didn't miss P1. I am not going to make any excuses; I am just going to try to get on it tomorrow."
The truncated session meant teams and drivers had very little time to set up their cars and none managed to do the usual race-simulation runs, so there was little indication as to potential form for the weekend.
What happened in Sainz's crash?
Sainz lost control of his Ferrari after just eight minutes of running. His car hit a bump as it went through one of the fastest corners of the track. This probably caused a loss of downforce and therefore the driver to lose control.
Sainz said: "For some reason there has been a change in the track compared to other years. There are two bumps, one at the exit of Turn Two and one at the entry in Turn Three, which with these new generation of cars is upsetting the cars a lot.
"It nearly caught me out in the first session. I changed a few things in the set-up and in the line trying to get rid of it and for some reason in that lap it surprised me. It must have been the way I took the bump and it made me be a passenger.
"We've seen before that with this generation of cars that any of these small bumps can make you spin and have a pretty heavy crash."
In the first session, a number of the junior drivers who were used by nine of the 10 teams as part of their mandatory "young driver" running had wild moments over the same bump, without actually losing control.
Sainz was unhurt in the accident but the barriers were extensively damaged and there were just 25 minutes of the session remaining when it was restarted.
But just two minutes later there was another red flag after Hulkenberg ran wide on the exit of Turn One, put his right rear wheel on the artificial grass outside the kerb and spun.
The car rotated back across the track and its rear corner smashed into the barriers, causing the session to be stopped again, for seven minutes this time while the damaged Haas was removed.
Big money up for grabs
The lack of running will make the teams' work overnight tougher than usual as they head into a race weekend in which a number of championship positions are still contested.
Key among them, Ferrari are just four points behind Mercedes in their battle for second place in the constructors' championship behind Red Bull.
Both teams are keen to secure the position, not least for the extra $10m or so of prize money but also as a morale boost after difficult seasons.
Ferrari have the momentum after a stronger second part of the season following a series of upgrades that have improved their difficult car.
Leclerc, who said the Ferrari was "feeling pretty good", added: "I would really like the team to be second at the end of this weekend. We've had a tough season and everybody deserves it, they have worked like crazy in order to bring the upgrades earlier so we will do everything for that."
There is also some uncertainty over fourth place, with McLaren 11 points ahead of Aston Martin.
At the back, the bottom four teams - Williams, Alpha Tauri, Alfa Romeo and Haas - are covered by just 16 points.
Meanwhile, in the drivers' championship, Sainz and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso are tied on 200 points in fourth and fifth places, just five points ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris, who is himself just seven ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
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