F1 Abu Dhabi GP: Piastri leads McLaren FP3 1-2 as Ferrari is “nowhere”

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.

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.

Photos from Qatar Grand Prix Final Practice

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Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	O. PiastriMcLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	16	1’23.433		227.866
2	L. NorrisMcLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	15	+0.193 1’23.626	0.193	227.340
3	L. HamiltonMercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	18	+0.390 1’23.823	0.197	226.806
4	M. VerstappenRed Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	17	+0.411 1’23.844	0.021	226.749
5	C. SainzFerrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	21	+0.438 1’23.871	0.027	226.676
6	G. RussellMercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	18	+0.642 1’24.075	0.204	226.126
7	N. HulkenbergHaas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	14	+0.660 1’24.093	0.018	226.078
8	K. MagnussenHaas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	14	+0.661 1’24.094	0.001	226.075
9	C. LeclercFerrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	20	+0.665 1’24.098	0.004	226.064
10	S. PerezRed Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	17	+0.850 1’24.283	0.185	225.568
11	Y. TsunodaRacing Bulls	22		RB	Red Bull	18	+0.910 1’24.343	0.060	225.408
12	A. AlbonWilliams	23		Williams	Mercedes	15	+0.945 1’24.378	0.035	225.314
13	P. GaslyAlpine	10		Alpine	Renault	17	+0.975 1’24.408	0.030	225.234
14	J. DoohanAlpine	61		Alpine	Renault	17	+1.001 1’24.434	0.026	225.165
15	F. AlonsoAston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	19	+1.020 1’24.453	0.019	225.114
16	V. BottasSauber	77		Sauber	Ferrari	16	+1.046 1’24.479	0.026	225.045
17	L. LawsonRacing Bulls	30		RB	Red Bull	19	+1.086 1’24.519	0.040	224.938
18	L. StrollAston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	20	+1.098 1’24.531	0.012	224.906
19	Z. GuanyuSauber	24		Sauber	Ferrari	16	+1.235 1’24.668	0.137	224.542
20	F. ColapintoWilliams	43		Williams	Mercedes	15	+1.333 1’24.766	0.098	224.283
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