McLaren locks out top two spots in final F1 practice of the year
Oscar Piastri led a comfortable McLaren one-two ahead of teammate Lando Norris in the final practice session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, while title rival Ferrari remained almost half a second off the pace.
The final practice hour of the season was a subdued affair, with conditions in the late afternoon unrepresentative of the night-time qualifying session later today or Sunday’s twilight race, with the ambient temperature creeping about 104 degrees F.
After some early exploratory laps, Piastri set the pace on a fresh set of soft tires at 1m23.433s, beating teammate Norris by 0.193s, inverting the order of McLaren’s one-two in FP2 on Friday night.
Lewis Hamilton unexpectedly slotted into third after improving on a second performance run on a used set of softs, though he was still 0.39s off the pace, while Max Verstappen, who complained of a lack of bite from his front brakes, was 0.411s off the pace in fourth.
The best constructors' championship contender Ferrari could muster was fifth with Carlos Sainz, who was 0.438s slower than Piastri’s leading McLaren. Charles Leclerc, who carries a 10-place grid penalty into the grand prix for a battery change, was ninth fastest and 0.665s of the pace.
“We are nowhere. Nowhere,” Leclerc said over team radio when told of his gap to the front.
George Russell was a confused sixth, the Mercedes driver 0.642s off the pace and around 0.2s adrift from the leading five cars. The Briton, who started last weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix from pole position, was mystified as to his lack of pace.
“I’m not sure what’s going on,” he radioed early in the session. “The car feels OK, just very slow.
“I don’t really know why the pace is so bad. Everything feels reasonably normal, it’s just all slow.”
Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were closely matched, the Haas teammates separated by just 0.001s and less than 0.02s slower than Russell. The German and Dane wedged themselves ahead of Leclerc, who trailed by 0.004s.
Sergio Perez completed the top 10 in the second Red Bull Racing car, lapping 0.85s off the pace and 0.439s slower than teammate Verstappen.
Yuki Tsunoda was 11th for RB at the head of a super tight group of eight cars spread over less than 0.2s.
Alex Albon put his Williams 12th and just 0.035s off the pace, with Pierre Gasly following for Alpine a further 0.03s adrift.
Jack Doohan, who teased that he’d left plenty of time on the table on Friday in pursuit of a smooth build-up to qualifying, improved massively overnight relative to his teammate, lapping just 0.026s slower than Gasly.
Valtteri Bottas was 16th ahead of Liam Lawson and Lance Stroll, the trio split by 0.052s.
Zhou Guanyu was 19th and 1.235s off the pace, the Chinese driver around 0.1s ahead of Williams rookie Franco Colapinto at the back of the pack.
Michael Lamonato
Having first joined the F1 press corps in 2012 by what he assumed was administrative error, Michael has since made himself one of the few Australian regulars in the press room. Graduating in print journalism and later radio, he worked his way from community media to Australia's ABC Grandstand as an F1 broadcaster, and his voice is now heard on the official Australian Grand Prix podcast, the F1 Strategy Report and Box of Neutrals. Though he'd prefer to be recognized for his F1 expertise, in parts of hometown Melbourne his reputation for once being sick in a kart will forever precede him.
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