It's advantage McLaren after the final Friday running of the 2024 Formula 1 season in its constructors' championship fight against Ferrari, as Lando Norris led a 1-2 in second practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri.

And that supremacy in the headline times was backed up by McLaren's strong performance on the long-run simulations towards the end of the session - even prompting Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc to claim "they are so fast".

McLaren and Ferrari are locked in a head-to-head fight for the constructors' championship crown, and success would end a 16-year wait for a title of any kind for either team.

McLaren holds a 21-point advantage with 44 on offer at the Yas Marina circuit this weekend, and while Ferrari led the way in FP1 the MCL38 appeared the faster package in the cooler, more representative evening conditions.

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Norris's fastest time, a 1m23.517s, put him 0.234s clear of Piastri as McLaren looks to close out its first constructors' championship success since 1998.

As has been the case often in 2024, Piastri appeared slightly the faster of the two (and fastest overall) at the start of the long runs, with Ferrari's radio message that the McLaren driver had managed a 1m29.2s-lap - something Piastri replicated twice - prompting Leclerc's response.

But Norris said after the session he expected a much closer battle on Saturday, and indicated McLaren had been running a higher engine mode than its rivals in FP2.

Nico Hulkenberg was third-fastest for a Haas team that is bidding to finish sixth in the championship. His best time in the qualifying simulations was 0.462s off Norris's best.

Carlos Sainz was the faster Ferrari driver in fourth, a further 0.120s back, with Lewis Hamilton getting his Mercedes between the driver he'll replace next year at Ferrari and the second SF-24 of Charles Leclerc - who is carrying a 10-place grid penalty for a battery change this weekend.

A wide moment for George Russell and struggles for Red Bull opened the door for four more drivers from the midfield to complete the top 10.

Valtteri Bottas, who is still searching for a first point of the season, was seventh-fastest for Sauber and headed a tight three-car pack that also included the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon's Williams, with just 0.039s covering the trio.

Albon had to coast back to the pitlane at the start of his initial long run attempt, driving his FW46 back at a constant speed in third gear along the back straight.

While that initially appeared as though it was a drive issue, the right rear tyre on the Williams appeared to come off very easily on its return to the garage - with Albon subsequently returning to the track.

Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10 for an RB team that is also in the fight for sixth in the constructors' championship with Haas and Alpine, with team-mate Liam Lawson just six thousandths slower in 11th.

Max Verstappen appeared uncomfortable with his Red Bull in the session and ended up a lowly 17th.

Before the qualifying sim runs he'd asked for a reference on Red Bull's front wing; reported "it's bad. It's not really my problem with the car. The front axle is just not working" when asked about the ride of his RB20; and once his sim was completed complained that "the front axle still doesn't grip up".

The Red Bull did at least appear more competitive on the long runs - despite Verstappen hitting the Turn 3 kerb "quite hard - like, on the plank" - in the hands of both Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez, who was 14th in the headline times.

Jack Doohan's early acclimatisation to life as an Alpine F1 driver continued with plenty of coaching from race engineer Josh Peckett ahead of his grand prix debut on Sunday.

He ended FP2 in 19th, 1.444s off the pace and three tenths ahead of Franco Colapinto.

The second Williams sat out the second half of the session as Williams assessed floor damage sustained during the session.

Colapinto bailed out of his soft-tyre run after running wide over an exit kerb.