Lewis Hamilton led team-mate Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes topped the timesheet in final practice ahead of the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Having topped the FP2 timesheet on Friday, Hamilton repeated the form in FP3. His 1m37.627s was set on the second timed lap of his final run, as the ultra-soft tyres managed to cope with two laps in the case of most drivers.
Hamilton headed Bottas by 0.273 seconds. The Finn had a minor scare after running wide at the final corner, narrowly avoiding the barriers on his first timed lap of his qualifying simulation.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were third and fourth. Raikkonen managed to stay ahead of Vettel on each and every run during the session. Both, however, finished over half a second adrift of Hamilton’s benchmark.
Red Bull faced an even trickier session, with Daniel Ricciardo a further 0.2s behind in fifth and Max Verstappen finishing sixth.
Verstappen described his car as “unbelievably difficult to drive,” as he grappled with oversteer throughout the hour. While this balance could prove more effective when the track temperatures fall during qualifying, Red Bull seem unlikely to challenge for pole position based on FP3.
McLaren continued the two-by-two theme, with Fernando Alonso leading Stoffel Vandoorne in seventh and eighth. It was an eventful session for the Belgian, who suffered a half-spin at Turn 20 before reliability concerns were raised when his power unit emitted smoke in the final five minutes.
Williams’ Lance Stroll struggled throughout the session. He sat at the foot of the timesheet before climbing to 17th with a late lap. A lock-up at Turn 11 cost him the chance of moving further up the timesheet.
Brendon Hartley battled understeer en route to 20th. Both Toro Rosso’s could be under pressure in Q1, as Pierre Gasly only managed to better his team-mate’s benchmark by a tenth.
Comments.
Loading comments…