Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was quickest man in the final practice session at Yas Marina, ahead of teammate Alex Albon.
Click here for the complete results from FP3 – 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen has set the quickest time in the final practice session of the weekend, and the year, at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina. The session isn’t hugely representative of the conditions that will be seen in qualifying and the race, which take place under floodlights as darkness takes hold, but Verstappen used the Soft tyre to set a time of 1:36.734 to lead the way at the chequered flag.
The Dutch driver ended up half a second clear of teammate Alex Albon. Albon appeared distinctly unhappy with the balance of his car throughout the session, querying the team “are we sure about this?” in relation to his car balance and setup even with only five minutes remaining in the session. Setting off on a double flying lap run, Albon’s second flyer on the Softs proved his quickest lap of the session but 0.501 behind Verstappen’s best.
Daniel Ricciardo finished in P3 for Renault, as they continue their fight to finish in P3 in the Constructor’s Championship. The Australian, in his last race weekend with the French team, was a further tenth behind Albon at the end of practice, and just 0.022 clear of teammate Esteban Ocon.
Lando Norris finished P5 for McLaren, to ensure a showdown between the two teams is on the cards for qualifying later. He was 0.743 off Verstappen’s pace.
Lewis Hamilton finished P6 for Mercedes, 0.761 away from Verstappen. However, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky that he believes the Merc team are conserving their engines for the important sessions. This is because of recent failures and concerns for Sergio Perez and George Russell’s power unit components as all the engines start reaching their end of life.
Lance Stroll finished P7 for Racing Point, with Carlos Sainz P8 for McLaren in his last practice session with the Woking team.
Valtteri Bottas placed P9 in the second Mercedes, with Hamilton, Stroll, Sainz and Bottas all setting a 1:37.0.
Last week’s race winner Sergio Perez, who takes a grid penalty for this race, placed in P10 for Racing Point.
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