McLaren looks on course to be in a “league of their own” at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix based on the times in opening practice, according to the team’s Formula 1 rivals.
The Woking-based squad dominated proceedings during the one representative practice session at the Yas Marina Circuit as Lando Norris headed a 1-2 result in FP2.
Norris produced the headline time with a 1:23.517s to end up two-tenths quicker than team-mate Oscar Piastri and close to five-tenths up on Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas.
Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz in the leading Ferrari car wound up 0.582s behind Norris’ benchmark, with McLaren also appearing to have an evident edge on long-run pace.
But while Norris suggested the leaderboard flattered McLaren, Mercedes’ George Russell suspects the rest have a mammoth fight to catch the championship leaders.
“I think Lewis [Hamilton] did some great laps out there, and I think still, as a team, we’re a long way off McLaren and Ferrari,” Russell said.
“McLaren especially seem to be in a league of their own at the moment.
“As I said, Lewis did a great job, but we’re still four tenths behind the McLarens. So that’s bigger than we usually expect.
“I expect Ferrari to probably get back in the mix, Max [Verstappen], probably to get back in the mix, but I hope we can make some improvements for tomorrow.”
Ferrari has a gap to close on McLaren
Sainz echoed Russell’s view as he conceded Ferrari is “two or three tenths” down on McLaren, which has a 21-point lead over the Italian outfit going into the final race.
“We’re still not extracting all of the performance,” the Spaniard highlighted.
“As always when the track drops in temperature and when we put the soft tyres on, our car seems to struggle a bit more.
“We will probably not have a second off the McLaren, but we are two or three-tenths off, which is something that we need to try and recover going into tomorrow.
“It’s a deficit that we carried also into long runs so we need to make sure we we find a couple of tenths tonight to put us in the battle with them for the weekend.
“McLaren has always been quick here in the past. It’s always been a track for McLaren but also, Lando has been very quick in Abu Dhabi before.
“I think they’re always going to be a difficult team to beat at the moment, they look the strongest this weekend. So it’s going to be a tough ask to beat them.”
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