Formula 1 News: Russell nips Norris in final Abu Dhabi GP practice

Mercedes F1 driver George Russell turned a lap of 1m24.418s to top the final practice of the 2023 Abu Dhabi GP over Lando Norris by 0.095s.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

In a session that may not be representative because the hot sun had not yet set, Russell led a Mercedes power 1-2-3-4 as Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri was third, 0.392s back and Alex Albon was 4th in the Williams, 0.511s.

Russell led the entire session, and it was thought that he was running low fuel in qualifying trim.

Charles Leclerc rounded out the top-5 for Ferrari, 0.681s behind.

World Champion, Max Verstappen, was never competitive the entire session and was 0.735s off the pace in 6th, complaining to the team that the car kept bottoming out. As for his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, he is languishing down in P11.

It’s a bit of a mixed up order out there, with fuel loads a bit of an unknown. But was certain that Verstappen isn’t too happy with the set-up of his car, fighting it for much of the session, although his late lap looked more comfortable.

2023 Abu Dhabi GP Practice 3 Results