Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes on top ahead of the two Ferrari drivers in the final practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
On a hot track – over 40C when the session began – Hamilton used a set of hyper-soft tyres to set the quickest time of the weekend so far, six-hundredths inside the benchmark his team mate set yesterday.Valtteri Bottas could only manage fifth-fastest in the session, three-quarters of a second off his team mate. The Ferrari pair were the closest threat to Hamilton, led by Kimi Raikkonen, though he will make a trip to the stewards to explain why he crossed the white line approaching the Safety Car line.
Max Verstappen was fourth-quickest but complained he was unable to fully charge his battery problem. At least his Red Bull kept running to the end of the session: Daniel Ricciardo, in his final weekend for the team, had the depressingly familiar experience of coming to a stop with a technical problem, four minutes before the end of the session.
Romain Grosjean led the midfielders but had an incident with Pierre Gasly in the final minutes of practice. The Haas driver appeared to hold up his Toro Rosso rival, who then drove close enough to the VF-18 that the pair made contact.
The Renault pair were next and Esteban Ocon completed the top 10 despite spending much of the session stuck in the pits with an engine problem.
Charles Leclerc ended the session 10th fastest for Sauber despite damaging his rear wing by spinning into the barrier at turn 19 early in the running.
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Third practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’37.176
+0.288 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’37.464
+0.411 Sebastian Vettel – 1’37.587
+0.571 Max Verstappen – 1’37.747
+0.757 Valtteri Bottas – 1’37.933
+0.914 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’38.090
+1.128 Romain Grosjean – 1’38.304
+1.674 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’38.850
+1.794 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’38.970
+1.835 Esteban Ocon – 1’39.011
+1.877 Sergio Perez – 1’39.053
+1.898 Brendon Hartley – 1’39.074
+2.106 Charles Leclerc – 1’39.282
+2.436 Kevin Magnussen – 1’39.612
+2.564 Pierre Gasly – 1’39.740
+2.798 Fernando Alonso – 1’39.974
+2.821 Marcus Ericsson – 1’39.997
+2.941 Lance Stroll – 1’40.117
+3.057 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’40.233
+4.006 Sergey Sirotkin – 1’41.182
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
Combined practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’39.543 | 1’37.443 | 1’37.176 | -0.267 | 78 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’39.452 | 1’37.236 | 1’37.933 | +0.697 | 82 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’38.491 | 1’37.280 | 1’37.747 | +0.467 | 74 |
| 4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’38.945 | 1’37.428 | 1’38.090 | +0.662 | 61 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’40.417 | 1’37.461 | 1’37.464 | +0.003 | 82 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’40.453 | 1’37.569 | 1’37.587 | +0.018 | 75 |
| 7 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’40.663 | 1’38.060 | 1’38.304 | +0.244 | 67 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’41.023 | 1’38.230 | 1’38.850 | +0.62 | 75 |
| 9 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’40.235 | 1’38.318 | 1’39.612 | +1.294 | 64 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’40.102 | 1’38.402 | 1’39.011 | +0.609 | 66 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’40.671 | 1’38.506 | 1’39.740 | +1.234 | 61 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’40.588 | 1’38.511 | 1’38.970 | +0.459 | 74 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’42.313 | 1’38.725 | 1’39.974 | +1.249 | 64 |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’41.075 | 1’38.806 | 1’39.053 | +0.247 | 69 |
| 15 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’38.831 | 1’39.282 | +0.451 | 43 | |
| 16 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’41.137 | 1’38.957 | 1’39.074 | +0.117 | 79 |
| 17 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’41.928 | 1’39.502 | 1’39.997 | +0.495 | 78 |
| 18 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’42.114 | 1’39.938 | 1’40.233 | +0.295 | 54 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’41.493 | 1’40.046 | 1’40.117 | +0.071 | 73 |
| 20 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’40.935 | 1’41.182 | +0.247 | 61 | |
| 21 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’41.662 | 24 | |||
| 22 | Robert Kubica | Williams-Mercedes | 1’42.992 | 26 |
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Jere (@jerejj)
24th November 2018, 11:10
Hopefully, that means that Ricciardo wouldn’t have to face any reliability issues in the race although I’m not holding too much hope given his recent luck.
Garns (@)
24th November 2018, 11:30
I am going to lend Ricky Bobby my 2004 VY Commodore for Quali- it wont be fast be at least it will finish!!
RBR racing seriously need to keep Dr Helmut Crazy off the tools, doesn’t seem to be working :(
Maaate
24th November 2018, 12:34
He’d surely do better in a green Torana?
Tango (@tango)
24th November 2018, 11:23
Romain is king of practice