George Russell (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 W14. 25.11.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 23, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, Qualifying Day.
George Russell beat Lando Norris to set the fastest time in the third practice session ahead of qualifying for the 2023 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver toured the Yas Marina Circuit with a best effort of 1:24.418s to top the order for the second time this weekend by 0.095s over Norris.
Unlike yesterday’s heavily disrupted FP2 which featured limited running, the final practice hour of the entire campaign progressed without any interruptions.
While Ferrari led the way in the brief laps completed under representative conditions on Friday, the Scuderia opted against running the Soft tyre until the closing stages.
Even once the Italian marque fitted the red-walled compound to conduct a qualifying simulation, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz only wound up fifth and 20th respectively.
That allowed Russell and Mercedes to front the times, with the Briton prevailing ahead of the two McLaren drivers, Norris one place ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Alex Albon placed Williams in an encouraging fourth, with the Grove-based outfit’s second car of Logan Sargeant also occupying a position inside the top eight.
Splitting those two were Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon, who is looking to build on an impressive recovery from 16th to fourth in Las Vegas last weekend.
Verstappen struggled throughout the session with the balance of his RB19 and ended up 0.7s off the benchmark time, while Sergio Perez was down in 11th place.
Lewis Hamilton was also an absentee from the top half of the order, eight-tenths behind team-mate Russell. Yuki Tsunoda and Guanyu Zhou completed the top 10.
Both of the Aston Martin drivers failed to set a competitive lap time, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll line astern in 14th and 15th, both behind Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo and the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo both lagged behind their team-mates in 16th and 18th, split by Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas.
The American squad appear to be on the back foot once again this weekend, with Kevin Magnussen only being denied setting the slowest time by Sainz’s troubles.
Keyword: Russell fastest over Norris in final Abu Dhabi F1 practice