Max chasing
In the first two practice sessions of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Lando Norris was flawless, showing no mistakes and convincingly topping both sessions. The British driver looked very confident, posting a gap of three and a half tenths to the first chaser, Max Verstappen. Naturally, this is an ideal start for the McLaren driver ahead of a weekend in which he will need to manage a 12-point lead over Verstappen and a 16-point advantage over his teammate Oscar Piastri.
Marko speaks candidly
After FP2, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko told GpBlog: “We are clearly behind Lando. The changes we made between the two sessions did not have the desired effect. However, we have seen worse Fridays.”
The Austrian also highlighted Max’s car issues: “On the radio he told us the car was struggling with understeer and bouncing. We still have another session available, and we hope to head in the right direction.”
Regarding the gap to Lando Norris, Helmut Marko added: “I wouldn’t call it alarming, but it’s certainly not a comfortable situation. On the long runs, the picture was the same, with the largest loss in the third sector. Tire degradation was higher than on Norris’ McLaren.” – the Red Bull advisor pointed out at the end of the second free practice session for the 2025 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Counting on Ferrari or Mercedes to challenge for the top spots also seems difficult: “Neither of them seems fast enough, but maybe tomorrow they will find something. Another mistake from McLaren would be fortunate for us, but we cannot rely on others’ errors three times in a row. We have to make it happen on our own.”
One thing is certain: if Red Bull do pull a rabbit out of the hat on Saturday morning, it will rank among the great overnight turnarounds in recent F1 history.
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