Abu Dhabi GP FP3: McLaren Dominates, Hamilton sets the pace for Mercedes with P3

The Final practice session at the Yas Marina circuit, Abu Dhabi is complete with the two McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris finishing in the top 2 dominating their rival Ferrari. The Maranello squad of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished far behind in P5 and P9. They definitely have a lot of work to do in the qualifying session later today.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton finished third fastest, setting the pace for his team for one last time in a practice session and was ahead of World champion Max Verstappen in fourth. George Russell finished P6 behind the Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz in P5. The two Haas drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen are in full swing to grab the 6th place in the constructor's championship this year ahead of the Alpines finishing seventh and eighth. Red Bull driver Sergio Perez was P10 behind Ferraris Charles Leclerc in P9. 

VCARB driver Yuki Tsunoda put on a good show and finished P11 ahead of Williams driver Alex Albon and Alpine driver Pierre Gasly in P12 and P13. The debutant Jack Doohan was impressive and finished P14, as the Abu Dhabi circuit was his favourite testing ground in the past.

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Aston Martin team is not having a good second half this season as both their drivers struggling for pace, especially in the straights. Fernando Alonso was 15th fastest. Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas completed his final practice session in Formula 1 with P16 and was ahead of VCARB driver Liam Lawson in P17.

FP3 results

FP3 CLASSIFICATION

It's advantage McLaren heading into quali 👀#F1#AbuDhabiGPpic.twitter.com/kNTJJvkTuF

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 7, 2024

The final three drivers are Aston Martins Lance Stroll in P18, Sauber driver Zhou Guanyu in P19 and Williams Driver Franco Colapinto in P20.  The constructors championship is still hanging there for McLaren and Ferrari, something they have been waiting for a long time.

But as far as now, McLaren seems to have an upper hand over Ferrari as they are the fastest team on the grid. Their drivers are also very young and hungry to win. So Ferrari doesn't have much time to sort things out in their garage. They need the best machine in Qualifying, beat the Papaya team and take advantage in the main race.

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