ABU DHABI GP - FREE PRACTICE #3 - RE-CAP & TIMES
Hamilton jumped to the top of the times in the final third of the session, knocking Sebastian Vettel from the top spot and ending the morning with a 1m37.176s lap time.
Vettel and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen set the pace in the first half of the session with Vettel’s best lap – a 1m37.587s – remaining the benchmark until 20 minutes before the chequered flag.
Hamilton beat Vettel’s time by more than four tenths of a second, before improvements from Raikkonen knocked his team-mate down to P3.
Max Verstappen took fourth, half a second behind Hamilton but ahead of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, while Daniel Ricciardo picked up sixth.
Romain Grosjean claimed the best of the rest spot after a frantic final 10 minutes.
It was the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg top of the order with five minuets left on the clock, but
Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen and Charles Leclerc were all yet to complete their qualifying simulations.
Grosjean was the only man to beat Hulkenberg’s time, managing to lap half a second quicker than the Renault – and just 0.2s behind Ricciardo.
Carlos Sainz Jnr took ninth, ahead of Esteban Ocon – who spent most of the session in the garage with a suspected engine problem - and Sergio Perez.
The final practice session of the season wasn’t without incident.
Raikkonen was called to the stewards after crossing the pit-lane entry line and returning to the track. He’d ran wide at the penultimate corner of the Yas Marina circuit, putting him off line and on the wrong side of the pit entry line. He chose not to head into the pits, though, and returned to the track, prompting an investigation. He wasn’t penalised.
Grosjean and Pierre Gasly made contact at the end of the session when Gasly was trying to find a way past the Haas. The light contact sent bodywork flying from the Toro Rosso, but neither was significantly damaged and resolved the issue after the chequered flag.
Leclerc also suffered bodywork damage. The Sauber has spun early in the session and broke the rear wing after backing into the wall. He was able to get back out, ending the morning 13th quickest behind Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley.
Magnussen finished 14th, ahead of Gasly, Fernando Alonso, and Marcus Ericsson.
Lance Stroll, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Sergey Sirotkin completed the order.
TIMES:
1. Lewis Hamilton - 1:37.176 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain
2. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:37.464 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland
3. Sebastian Vettel - 1:37.587 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany
4. Max Verstappen - 1:37.747 / Red Bull Racing-TAG-Heuer / Netherlands
5. Valtteri Bottas - 1:37.933 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Finland
6. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:38.090 / Red Bull Racing-TAG-Heuer / Australia
7. Romain Grosjean - 1:38.304 / Haas-Ferrari / France
8. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:38.850 / Renault-Renault / Germany
9. Carlos Sainz - 1:38.970 / Renault-Renault / Spain
10. Esteban Ocon - 1:39.011 / Racing Point Force India-Mercedes / France
11. Sergio Perez - 1:39.053 / Racing Point Force India-Mercedes / Mexico
12. Brendon Hartley - 1:39.074 / Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda / New Zealand
13. Charles Leclerc - 1:39.282 / Sauber-Ferrari / Monaco
14. Kevin Magnussen – 1:39.612 / Haas-Ferrari / Denmark
15. Pierre Gasly - 1:39.740 / Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda / France
16. Fernando Alonso - 1:39.974 / McLaren-Renault / Spain
17. Marcus Ericsson - 1:39.997 / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden
18. Lance Stroll - 1:40.117 / Williams-Mercedes / Canada
19. Stoffel Vandoorne - 1:40.233 / McLaren-Renault / Belgium
20. Sergey Sirotkin - 1:41.182 / Williams-Mercedes / Russia
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Article Written By: Bethonie Waring
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