THE second practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was disrupted after crashes from both Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg.
Sainz collided with a barrier at Turn Three, leading to a 27-minute delay to practice as a result of the damage caused by the Ferrari driver.
He was following a Alpha Tauri car at the time and told his team over the radio: “Dirty air from the car gave me a massive snap. Dirty air and the bump, I think.”
When the session resumed there was 25 minutes remaining on the clock, and just three minutes later, it was disrupted once again after Nico Hulkenberg hit the wall at Turn One, which cost another seven minutes.
Sainz wasn’t hurt from the accident, but the damage caused to the barriers was the reason for the hold-up in action.
Sainz’s team-mate Charles Leclerc was the pacesetter, finishing just 0.043 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was 0.173 seconds off the pace in third, and he was visibly aggrieved when he felt he was being blocked off by both of the Mercedes drivers as they left the pits.
Verstappen also claimed that his car was “bouncing like a kangaroo” in the final sector of the lap around the marina.
