F1: Perez leads Red Bull 1-2 in final Abu Dhabi practice

In temperatures not representative of what it will be in cooler qualifying in 2-hours time, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez turned the fastest lap in final practice for the Abu Dhabi GP with a time of 1m24.982s

Perez’s teammate Max Verstappen was 0.152s slower with a messy lap to give the Red Bull Hondas a 1-2 ahead of qualifying.

The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were 3rd and 4th, 0.240s and 0.413s behind respectively.

Lando Norris rounded out the top-5 and ahead of the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr.  The good news for a struggling Ferrari is that the track temperature will fall dramatically before qualifying, which should help that soft tire to hold on for the full lap here. But the others seem to be able to extract more grip than Ferrari at the moment.

Daniel Ricciardo does have a three-place grid drop for the race tomorrow, earned after tagging Magnussen into a spin and out of the race last weekend.

The biggest moment in terms of ramifications in this session was Hamilton overtaking a couple of cars under red flag conditions – something the stewards will rule on between sessions.  However, Hamilton is the FIA ‘pet’ driver, so expect nothing to come of it.

Practice 3 Times