Lando Norris insisted he has “nothing to smile about just yet” after leading the way in the first two sessions at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver was eight thousandths of a second quicker than Max Verstappen in first practice, but extended that gap to 0.363 seconds in the second session.

Oscar Piastri sat out of the opening session on Friday and could only manage to be 11th-fastest later in the day.

Norris can secure his first Formula One Drivers’ Championship if he finishes on the podium in Abu Dhabi.

It will be his 152nd Grand Prix, all of which have been with McLaren. He will become the driver with the fourth-most appearances with the same team in the history of the competition, surpassing Kimi Raikkonen's 151 with Ferrari.

Norris was pleased with how he performed during Friday’s sessions, but refused to get ahead of himself.

“I mean obviously from the times, things look good at the minute. I still want a bit more from the car. I'm not completely happy or completely confident," Norris told Sky Sports.

Great work out there today, Lando #McLaren | #AbuDhabiGP  pic.twitter.com/h9oQZaokQS

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) December 5, 2025

“I've been in the middle of trying some different things and trying to understand some things with the car. So hopefully some there's more stuff we can get out of it overnight.

“It's not been a bad day, for sure. It's been a positive day. But we always know it gets a lot closer going into qualy, so nothing to smile about just yet.”

This will be the 13th time in F1 history that three drivers have a chance of winning the title in the final race.

On four of those occasions, the driver who was first went on to win the grand prize (Juan Manuel Fangio in 1951 and 1956, Jack Brabham in 1959 and Graham Hill in 1968).