George Russell topped the final practice session for the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, while Red Bull and Ferrari struggled to show their pace.
Russell seemed to be making the best out of the final sector carrying more downforce than his rivals as well as his teammate Lewis Hamilton who finished the session 12th fastest.
That also seemed to be the case with both McLarens, as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished FP3 second and third respectively.
Triple Formula 1 Champion Max Verstappen never looked good in FP3, complaining about a sliding rear end, then jumping and bottoming on his RB19 and could not managed more than sixth fastest, behind Charles Leclerc who was only fifth despite showing early strong pace on Friday.
However it remains to be seen how the cooler conditions of qualifying affects the pecking order. Will Russell and the McLarens maintain their edge?
Buildup towards FP3
With the rookies taking over FP1 in Abu Dhabi, and FP2 reduced to less than 30 minutes of actual running after two Red flags brought out by Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg crashing, there wasn't too much that can be deduced from Friday.
Nevertheless, Ferrari showed they are decent on one-lap pace, while Red Bull as usual did not show their hand, which they will eventually show in qualifying and the race.
McLaren, after their tough Las Vegas Grand Prix, seemed to be back on form, while Mercedes as well seem to be better, but will one of the two black cars threaten the front runners.
Despite FP3 not conducted in similar conditions to qualifying where conditions will be much cooler, the teams will try to make the most out of the final 60 minutes of practice after their time on Friday was cut short.
Following Verstappen's overtaking at the tunnel of the pitlane exit on Friday, the race director issued instructions prohibiting overtaking in the pitlane unless another car slows down due to a problem.
The stewards explained:
"Qualifying As per article 33.4 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, drivers are not allowed to drive unnecessarily slowly, that includes stopping a car in the fast lane of the pit lane. Additionally, overtaking is prohibited in the pit exit road unless a car slows with an obvious problem."
Abu Dhabi FP2 session highlights
The final practice sessions started in clear conditions with ambient temperatures at 29 degrees Celsius while track temperature was 44 degrees.
Within the first five minutes, only five drivers were out on track: Hamilton, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Sainz, and Leclerc. The rest remained in their garages.
More drivers started to make their way to the track, but it wasn't until 15 minutes were gone that Verstappen finally made his way out of the Red Bull garage, while teammate Sergio Perez has already been out and posted the fastest time of the session at that moment.
The early runs were most done on Soft tyres, except for the two Ferraris who set out on Medium tyres, while Aston Martin started on scrubbed Hards before switching to Softs.
As the track continued to improve. Hamilton asked is team: "This track is ramping up, yeah?" He was given a confirmation.
Verstappen did not seem happy with his RB19's rear. He reported: "Quite a loose rear. It's sliding a lot."
The McLaren seemed to still be bottoming, as replay of an onboard with Piastri shows the MCL60 bouncing a lot while he locks up going into Turn 6.
Hulkenberg reported strong cross winds on the straights while Turns 5 and 6 were gusty, while Logan Sargeant reported his steering is "super far to the right again".
With almost 20 minutes of the session gone, AlphaTauri finally sent Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda out on the track.
In the second half of the session, the teams started sending their drivers out on heavy fuel loads for some long runs.
Ferrari chose the Mediums for their long runs, Red Bull opting for the Softs.
Pierre Gasly has a moment coming too fast out of Turn 15, more than the Alpine could handle and wet wide, riding the kerbs quite hard.
Verstappen was showing some strong and, more importantly, consistent pace on the long runs on Softs, over two second faster than the best runners on Mediums - Ferrari.
And soon, in the final 20 minutes or so, some teams and drivers started their final preparation for Qualifying with new Soft tyres bolted on and low fuel loads, Williams and Alpine the first two, soon followed by Alfa Romeo and Mercedes.
Valtteri Bottas fluffed his first qualy run, his tyres not up to speed, and running wide at Turn 1, and aborting the lap, while Russell improved his best time by over four tenths on his first hot lap.
Norris had a snap of over steer on his first qualy run in the final corner which lost him a couple of tenths and put him second in the timing screens. That was 12 minutes from the end of the session.
With ten minutes remaining, Verstappen set out for a final qualy run, and starts a bad lap, and aborts it after a few corners where he ran wide a couple of times.
He reports to his team that the car was one again bottoming and jumping.
Leclerc's first effort on Softs put him fifth in the timing screens while Sainz was 19th. Hamilton was ninth on his first qualy simulation.
Verstappen returned for another run but could not go higher than sixth place, while Leclerc couldn't improve from his fifth place.
Are the Ferrari and Red Bull in real trouble going into qualifying, or are they just sandbagging? We'll find out soon enough.
How they finished
Russell's best time of FP3 was a 1:24.418, 0.095s faster than Norris in second and 0.392s faster than Piastri in third.
Alex Albon was fourth fastest in the Williams, over half a second off the pace and 0.170s fastest than Leclerc who was fifth fastest.
Verstappen ended the session sixth fastest, 0.054s behind Leclerc and 0.041s ahead of Esteban Ocon who was seventh fastest for Alpine.
Sargeant posted a best time of 1:25.205 to go eighth fastest in the other Williams and was 0.017s ahead of Tsunoda who was ninth.
Zhou Guanyu was tenth fastest in the Alfa Romeo, ahead of Perez in 11th, and Hamilton in 12th.
FP3 Results
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