Verstappen fastest after jumping back in for Abu Dhabi FP2

Max Verstappen led from George Russell and Charles Leclerc during Free Practice 2 for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver jumped back into the car, having given it up to Liam Lawson during FP1 due to the rules regarding running rookie drivers during the year.

Verstappen was straight on the pace, setting a lap time that was 0.341 seconds quicker than Russell and a further 0.453s faster than Leclerc.

The Ferrari driver set the early pace from Esteban Ocon and Russell on the Mediums, with Lewis Hamilton also looking set to join the top three after going fastest in FP1.

But a block from Kevin Magnussen on his initial run meant Hamilton only had one attempt on the Mediums, which was only good enough for seventh quickest initially.

He later improved to fourth fastest, having switched to the Soft tyre, ahead of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz.

Session more representative of race conditions

Setting his time on the Soft tyre midway through the session, Verstappen completed the lap during the twilight conditions at the Yas Marina Circuit.

These conditions make FP2 the main representative session of the weekend for the race, as the ambient temperatures drop.

As a result a lot of teams run their race simulations once their drivers have set quick laps, which is what happened in the second half of the session with many electing to switch back to the Medium.

Ocon was the quickest of the Alpines, leading Fernando Alonso from Daniel Ricciardo, while Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top 10.