The pre-tactic is over: Mercedes is the fastest with Lewis Hamilton in the third free practice session of the Abu Dhabi GP with Max Verstappen second after he spent half the session to evaluate the more exhaust aerodynamic set-up, which was yesterday tested by Sergio Perez.
The Dutch driver would have rejected it by returning to the solution he had used in FP2, a sign that something in the Milton Keynes team did not go in the direction they hoped for. But in reality, before returning to the track, the technicians, at the push of Adrian Newey, decided to return to the main spoon profile with a major chord flap because unexpected vibrations had emerged that bothered the Dutchman a lot in making operate the DRS. In short, a double change of rear wing in FP3 when, usually in Saturday free practice, the teams concentrate on preparing for qualifying.
Verstappen, in the first part of the session, made a long run with the medium tires to compare yesterday’s data with the soft ones. Lewis Hamilton arrived at 1’23 “274 with the soft, leaving Max at 214 thousandths when the Dutchman mounted the reds. We recall that this session took place with 10 degrees of asphalt more than last night (39 degrees against i 29 of FP2) so it would be said that the turn cannot be considered too significant for the absolute performance.
Lewis set the time on the tenth lap with the first soft train, while he moved on to a second set after having flattened a tire and after having aborted three attempts, appearing in difficulty in the passages near the Hotel.
There was no lack of a thrill for the Englishman: exiting the pits he remained astride the white line while Nikita Mazepin arrived in a fast lap. The Russian had to throw himself off the track because the ideal line was occupied by Mercedes. The epta world champion could be called by the stewards: if Lewis is sanctioned with a reprimand as in Saudi Arabia, he would see a penalty of 10 positions on the grid. Will there be sparks even before qualifying? The entrance to the track remains dangerous thanks to the genius of Hermann Tilke to design the lane with an underpass!
Valtteri Bottas is third by 22 thousandths over Sergio Perez, but the “seconds” do not seem able to influence the world championship battle. Great fifth Lando Norris who brings McLaren back to the noble parts of the standings in front of the pair of AlphaTauri drivers with Yuki Tsunoda constantly ahead of Pierre Gasly. On a track that the Japanese knew he immediately did very well.
Carlos Sainz is eighth with Ferrari: the Spaniard is surprising because he achieved his performance with medium tires, confirming that he does not “like” the soft, but the gap from the cars in Faenza is quite heavy, four tenths, a sign that the Rossa hasn’t grown much compared to yesterday.
Charles Leclerc aborted the good lap with the same compound as Sainz and finished tenth behind Daniel Ricciardo with the other McLaren.
Out of the top 10 is Lance Stroll with Aston Martin, ahead of Esteban Ocon with Alpine. The Frenchman did not benefit from a sportier engine as yesterday, given that the realignment of the others has begun today. Therefore, Fernando Alonso’s 15th square is not surprising. Between Enstone’s two sandwich machines there are the two Alfa Romeos with Kimi Raikkonen just a hair in front of Antonio Giovinazzi 14th.
Sebastian Vettel precedes the two Williams of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi. Mick Schumacher remains close to the FW43B, while the Russian Mazepin gives his teammate a second, but in his good lap he aborted the lap because Hamilton found himself on the trajectory.
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