F1 Abu Dhabi GP: Piastri leads McLaren FP3 1-2 as…

Oscar Piastri headed another McLaren 1-2 in third practice for Formula 1’s season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton third and Max Verstappen fourth.

There was little action at the start of the one-hour session, with the two Aston Martin cars heading out in the early minutes only for lengthy installation tours.

Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan emerged at the end of the opening 10 minutes and duly established the benchmark at 1m26.040s and 1m25.633s respectively – with the former notably dragging his Alpine’s plank heavily along the kerb exiting the long Turn 5 hairpin at the end of the second sector.

The Aston’s then re-emerged and Lance Stroll took the top spot with a 1m25.528s, with Fernando Alonso behind initially with an opening flying lap on the softs most of the teams were running early on that feature him having to jink to avoid a low-flying seagull.

As the opening third ended, Zhou Guanyu nipped ahead for Sauber, before Kevin Magnussen put Haas into first place with a 1m24.470s and Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton appeared on the mediums.

The frontrunners had joined the fray by this stage, but only Lando Norris troubled the leading times – his initial effort on the softs coming in over 0.3s down on Magnussen – with Mercedes biggest issue involving Hamilton wanting a motivational sticker removed from behind his steering wheel.

Magnussen’s time lasted until the start of the session’s final third, with Alex Albon gaining over 0.6s on the Dane to leap up to first from 12th with a 1m24.378s.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38 (Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images)

After this, George Russell, who had been complaining about his pace much earlier in the session, moved ahead with a 1m24.075s, before Piastri edged clear by 0.642s for McLaren.

Norris could not better that 1m23.433s with his next flier, with the Briton sitting nearly 0.2s back om his team-mate, with Verstappen slotting into third a short while later with all the cars on the softs.

Piastri and Norris tried again on used softs as the final five minutes kicked off, but other than the Australian setting a personal best in the middle sector they did not improve, with his team-mate running off track at Turns 1 and 13 struggling with oversteer.

The leaders headed back to the pits after this, with Hamilton’s late effort enough to get ahead of Verstappen and trail Piastri by 0.390s – despite the Mercedes also being fitted with used softs.
Sainz ended up fifth ahead of Russell and the Haas pair – Nico Hulkenberg getting ahead of Magnussen with a new-soft performance run much later in FP3.

Charles Leclerc declared Ferrari “nowhere” in its battle with McLaren for the constructors’ championship, with the Monegasque driver – who will take a 10-place grid drop from wherever he qualifies later on Saturday at Yas Marina – ninth and 0.665s off the pace.

Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10 for Red Bull.

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	16	1'23.433		227.866
2	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	15	+0.193 1'23.626	0.193	227.340
3	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	18	+0.390 1'23.823	0.197	226.806
4	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	17	+0.411 1'23.844	0.021	226.749
5	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	Ferrari	Ferrari	21	+0.438 1'23.871	0.027	226.676
6	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	18	+0.642 1'24.075	0.204	226.126
7	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	14	+0.660 1'24.093	0.018	226.078
8	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	Haas	Ferrari	14	+0.661 1'24.094	0.001	226.075
9	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	20	+0.665 1'24.098	0.004	226.064
10	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	17	+0.850 1'24.283	0.185	225.568
11	Y. Tsunoda Racing Bulls	22	RB	Red Bull	18	+0.910 1'24.343	0.060	225.408
12	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	15	+0.945 1'24.378	0.035	225.314
13	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	17	+0.975 1'24.408	0.030	225.234
14	J. Doohan Alpine	61	Alpine	Renault	17	+1.001 1'24.434	0.026	225.165
15	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	19	+1.020 1'24.453	0.019	225.114
16	V. Bottas Sauber	77	Sauber	Ferrari	16	+1.046 1'24.479	0.026	225.045
17	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Red Bull	19	+1.086 1'24.519	0.040	224.938
18	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	20	+1.098 1'24.531	0.012	224.906
19	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	Sauber	Ferrari	16	+1.235 1'24.668	0.137	224.542
20	F. Colapinto Williams	43	Williams	Mercedes	15	+1.333 1'24.766	0.098	224.283
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