George Russell finished in the lead of the third free practice session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in Formula 1, the last of the season. It was a not very representative session, during the daytime, while the qualifying and the race will be at night.
In the early stages, Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) set the reference time, which was surpassed by Russell. The British driver from Mercedes was the first to run in the 1m24s, but it was in a later phase of the session that he achieved the best time: 1m24.418s on soft tires.
Lando Norris (McLaren) once again performed well and narrowly missed first place, finishing 95 milliseconds behind Russell. McLaren also saw Oscar Piastri finish third, 0.297s behind, followed by Alexander Albon (Williams) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) ahead of three-time champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull). The Dutchman struggled with rear problems, feeling the car sliding and bouncing too much.
After leading at one point, Pérez only managed to finish 11th, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes). Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) finished 14th and Carlos Sainz had a discreet session. The Ferrari driver ended up in 20th and last place.
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