Red Bull’s Max Verstappen scored the fastest time in the third, and last free practice on the Yas Marina Circuit. The two Mercedes were right behind him. Lewis Hamilton finished the training in second place and Valtteri Bottas in third.
The fastest three were only within one-tenth of a second, and behind them, at 3-tenths of a second was Verstappen’s teammate – Alex Albon. The fifth-fastest was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and sixth was Charles Leclerc. It should be noted that Leclerc made his fastest time on medium tires, while everyone else made it on soft.
During the training, Ferrari’s mechanics worked extensively on both of their cars. It was said that in the middle of the training, the front suspension was changed to Sebastian Vettel’s car, while something was done on the engines of both cars. Shortly after that, both Ferraris took the track and set their final times 18 minutes before the end of the session, which was originally sufficient for second and third positions, with Leclerc setting his time on the medium.
The qualifying session was dominated by Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton took the pole position (fifth on Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi). His teammate Valtteri Bottas secured the second spot. Max Verstappen won third place.
It wasn’t a good day for both Ferrari drivers. Charles Leclerc failed to get into the final lap in Q3 but it was enough for him to get in front of Sebastian Vettel: Two Ferraris locked the fourth and fifth position.
Where to watch F1 Abu Adhabi race:
The question is – can they pull a good strategy and win a podium in Abu Dhabi?
Find out tomorrow in 14:00 (CET) on: UK: Sky Sports F1, DE: Sky Sport 2, IT: Sky Sport F1, DK: TV3 Plus, ES: Movistar F1, FI: C More Max, Hu: M4, FR: Canal Plus.