ABU DHABI (WAM)
Oscar Piastri has topped the timesheets in third and final practice ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with the Australian leading team mate Lando Norris in a McLaren one-two as the squad aim to seal the constructors’ championship on Sunday.
The drivers were again greeted by sunny and warm conditions as FP3 got under way at 2:30 pm local time, a session that would offer a final chance to prepare for qualifying later on Saturday.
Fernando Alonso was one of the first out on track, with the Aston Martin man in a positive frame of mind as he radioed in: “I think it’s going to be a good day.”
Also out early were the Alpines, including Jack Doohan who is set to make his F1 race debut on Sunday. The Australian experienced a slide through the final corner, seemingly struggling for rear grip, but this did not stop him from going faster than team mate Pierre Gasly on their first runs.
The action picked up as the clock ticked down, with the majority of the pack heading out on the soft tyres for their first laps, while a small number bucked the trend with the mediums and RB took a different strategy by opting for the hards.
As the session headed towards its halfway point, Kevin Magnussen had gone fastest on a lap of 1m 24.470s during what will be the Dane’s final weekend racing for Haas. George Russell, meanwhile, admitted to some confusion about his Mercedes as he informed his engineer: “Not sure what’s going on – [the] car feels okay, just slow.”
Elsewhere there looked to be some smoke emerging from the rear of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, an unwelcome sight for the team after already being hit with a 10-place grid penalty for Charles Leclerc due to the Monegasque’s car needing a new energy store on Friday.
After limping back to the pits, Sainz was able to resume his running and promptly went second quickest – but his lap was still 0.161s off that earlier benchmark set by Magnussen. But as most of the field bolted on fresh soft tyres for their flying runs, Alex Albon displaced the Haas at the top by 0.092s.
The order continued to change further as more lap times came in, while Max Verstappen reported that his brakes were not working and Leclerc bemoaned that Ferrari were “nowhere”. McLaren, however, did not seem to be having such problems, with Piastri going quickest via his effort of 1m 23.433s to stay 0.193s clear of team mate Norris.
Lewis Hamilton was the Woking outfit’s closest challenger in third, ahead of Verstappen in fourth, Sainz in fifth and Russell in sixth. Haas continued their impressive performance by slotting into seventh and eighth, with Nico Hulkenberg leading from Magnussen, while Leclerc and Sergio Perez completed the top 10.
Yuki Tsunoda ended the session in 11th for RB, with the Williams of Albon and the Alpine pair of Gasly and Doohan following in 12th,13th and 14th respectively. Alonso claimed 15th, putting him ahead of Valtteri Bottas – racing in his last weekend for Kick Sauber – in 16th.
Liam Lawson put his RB into P17, while Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll took P18, Zhou Guanyu was P19 for Kick Sauber and the Williams of Franco Colapinto rounded out the order in P20.
With the final practice session of the weekend – and indeed the season – now complete, the drivers and teams will regroup in the paddock and assess the data before returning to the track for qualifying, which will take place later on Saturday at 6:00 pm local time.