F1 Abu Dhabi GP: Lewis Hamilton outpaces Max Verstappen in final practice
The seven-time world champion was 0.214s quicker than Verstappen during the💟 soft tyre runs ahead of a crucial qualifying session at the Yas Marina Circuit in their winner-takes-all champio🥃nship showdown.
Both champ⭕ionship contenders💜 aborted laps following lock ups, with Hamilton reporting overheating rear tyres and Verstappen struggling with balance issues on his Red Bull.
“It just doesn’t fucking Turn at🐼 Turn 6, it’s unbelievable,” Verstappen reported after a lock up on his first effort on the soft tyres.
Red Bull also faced a reoccurence𒐪 of its DRS issue in FP3, with the team seen changing Verstappen's rea🦩r-wing due to reliability concerns.
For the second week in a row during a practice session, Hamilton unintentiona𝕴lly blocked Haas driver Nikita Mazepin. The incident occurred as Hamilton exited the pits꧟, with Mazepin forced to take evasive action at Turn 3.
Valtteri Bottas was third-fastest but ended up 0.751s adrift of his Mercedes teammate during the qualifying simulation runs༺.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez took fourth ahead of Lando Norris’s McLaren, while the AlphaTauri pair of Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly continued their strꦜong form in Abu Dhabi to take sixth and seventh.
Completing the top 10 order ಌwere Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo, and Ch꧅arles Leclerc.
Qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix takes place at 5pm local ti𝓀me (1pm GMT).
Lewis regular♛ly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.com around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
