Sergio Perez, Red Bull, Yas Marina, 2022

Perez heads Red Bull one-two over Mercedes in final Abu Dhabi practice

2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix third practice

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Sergio Perez headed a Red Bull one-two ahead of Mercedes in final practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit.

Perez’s best time of a 1’24.982 saw him head into qualifying a tenth-and-a-half quicker than Max Verstappen, with Lewis Hamilton almost a quarter of a second behind in third. However the Mercedes driver is under investigation for failing to reduce his speed sufficiently when the red flag was shown.

It was a typically bright, warm start to Saturday in Abu Dhabi as the final practice hour of the 2022 season began. With the track hotter than it likely would be for any further session in the weekend, very few drivers chose to head out in the early part of the session.

The two Ferraris of Carlos Sainz Jnr and Charles Leclerc enjoyed the track to themselves in the early minutes, with Sainz setting the initial benchmark of a 1’27.821 on medium tyres before Leclerc beat his team mate by half a second on his first flying lap.

Mercedes then took to the track on the soft tyres, with Lewis Hamilton going easily fastest with a 1’26.040, while team mate George Russell moved into second with lap just under half a second slower than his team mate.

Leclerc improved on his original set of mediums to go second quickest, half-a-tenth slower than Hamilton, while the two Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon used mediums to go third and fourth fastest-respectively.

Lando Norris alerted his team to a possible brake fire on his front-left wheel and was told to pit and abandon his run. He was soon sent back out again, McLaren seemingly satisfied his car was safe. Soon after, Sebastian Vettel reported a similar problem on his Aston Martin, with smoke visibly rising from his own left-front wheel.

Perez set a new fastest time of the session with a 1’25.861 on the medium tyres, before practice was red-flagged at the half-hour mark when Pierre Gasly suffered a failure at the front-left of his car at the exit of turn nine, leaving a small piece of debris just off the racing line. While the debris was cleared, Hamilton appeared to overtake both Norris and Kevin Magnussen under the red flag on the approach to turn five. Hamilton will be investigated after practice for failing to slow under red flag.

The session resumed shortly afterwards, with many teams opting to head out on soft tyres to work on their single lap pace ahead of qualifying. Hamilton moved back to the top of the times with his first effort, before Perez went almost a quarter of a second quicker than the Mercedes to retake the top spot. Verstappen moved into second place by improving his personal best time, but lost time after running wide at the exit of the turn five hairpin.

Despite a late rush out onto the circuit for the final minutes, only the Ferrari of Leclerc improved at the chequered flag, moving to sixth position. Perez therefore ended the session as the fastest driver, ahead of team mate Verstappen and the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell. Norris was fifth in the McLaren, ahead of the two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz. Daniel Ricciardo was eighth in the second McLaren, with Sebastian Vettel completing his final practice session of his career in ninth position. Alexander Albon completed the top 10.

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2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix third practice result

Position Number Driver Team Model Time Gap Laps
1 11 Sergio Perez Red Bull RB18 1’24.982 15
2 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull RB18 1’25.134 0.152 15
3 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes W13 1’25.222 0.240 20
4 63 George Russell Mercedes W13 1’25.395 0.413 15
5 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes MCL36 1’25.518 0.536 16
6 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari F1-75 1’25.571 0.589 24
7 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Ferrari F1-75 1’25.605 0.623 23
8 3 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes MCL36 1’25.950 0.968 18
9 5 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR22 1’26.012 1.030 13
10 23 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes FW44 1’26.051 1.069 16
11 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault A522 1’26.073 1.091 17
12 14 Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault A522 1’26.076 1.094 18
13 22 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Red Bull AT03 1’26.170 1.188 19
14 77 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo-Ferrari C42 1’26.189 1.207 17
15 10 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Red Bull AT03 1’26.239 1.257 12
16 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR22 1’26.298 1.316 20
17 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari VF-22 1’26.356 1.374 21
18 47 Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari VF-22 1’26.473 1.491 19
19 24 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo-Ferrari C42 1’26.482 1.500 17
20 6 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes FW44 1’26.646 1.664 14

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Full practice times

Position Number Driver Team FP1 time FP2 time FP3 time Gap Laps
1 11 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1’26.967 1’25.852 1’24.982 5
2 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1’25.146 1’25.134 0.152 1
3 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’26.633 1’25.761 1’25.222 0.240 4
4 63 George Russell Mercedes 1’26.853 1’25.487 1’25.395 0.413 2
5 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1’26.377 1’25.518 0.536 11
6 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’26.888 1’25.599 1’25.571 0.589 3
7 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Ferrari 1’25.932 1’25.605 0.623 6
8 3 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes 1’27.619 1’26.124 1’25.950 0.968 9
9 5 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes 1’27.268 1’26.395 1’26.012 1.030 12
10 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 1’27.891 1’26.038 1’26.073 1.056 7
11 14 Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault 1’26.043 1’26.076 1.061 8
12 23 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1’27.840 1’26.750 1’26.051 1.069 16
13 22 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Red Bull 1’27.991 1’26.680 1’26.170 1.188 15
14 77 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1’27.655 1’26.300 1’26.189 1.207 10
15 10 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Red Bull 1’27.845 1’27.036 1’26.239 1.257 19
16 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1’26.547 1’26.298 1.316 14
17 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1’28.142 1’26.915 1’26.356 1.374 18
18 47 Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari 1’26.839 1’26.473 1.491 17
19 24 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1’26.479 1’26.482 1.497 13
20 6 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 1’27.262 1’26.646 1.664 21
21 36 Liam Lawson Red Bull 1’27.201 2.219 20
22 39 Robert Shwartzman Ferrari 1’27.429 2.447 22
23 88 Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1’28.064 3.082 23
24 45 Logan Sargeant Williams-Mercedes 1’28.098 3.116 24
25 51 Pietro Fittipaldi Haas-Ferrari 1’28.204 3.222 25
26 28 Pato O’Ward McLaren-Mercedes 1’28.350 3.368 26
27 82 Jack Doohan Alpine-Renault 1’28.484 3.502 27
28 34 Felipe Drugovich Aston Martin-Mercedes 1’28.672 3.690 28

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2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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4 comments on “Perez heads Red Bull one-two over Mercedes in final Abu Dhabi practice”

  1. @Alex Lima

    To answer your question from yesterday, this is why people say the RedBull is quick…

  2. I like Sergio Perez when he’s angry! I hope he’s able to make a statement in the race.

    1. controversal but i want perez to not get second place in the standings so he has that fire in his belly all of next year.

  3. Max already helping checo (-;

Comments are closed.