Formula 1 News: Russell tops 2025 Abu Dhabi GP Practice 3

George Russell (pictured) in the #63 Mercedes turned a lap of 1m23.334s to top final practice for the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP Formula 1 race at the Yas Marina Circuit.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Russell beat points leader Lando Norris, driving the superior Rob Marshall-designed McLaren, by just 0.004s.  When qualifying comes we will see the true performance of that McLaren.

Max Verstappen was third fastest in the Red Bull RB21, 0.124s behind Russell.

Fernando Alonso was an impressive 4th for Aston Martin, 0.251s behind Russell.

Oscar Piastri rounded out the top-5 in the #81 McLaren, 0.259s behind Russell and ahead of the impressive Haas duo of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman. Charles Leclerc, Kimi Antonelli and Alex Albon rounded out the top 10 in an eventful session where just 0.388s covered the front half of the field.

All the focus has been on Norris versus Piastri versus Verstappen, and in swoops Russell to remind those three that they might not have it all their own way this weekend.

Lewis Hamilton crashed his Ferrari into the barriers, and he said something broke in the front suspension.

Here’s what happened to Lewis 💥#F1 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/YBZRvnH15k

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 6, 2025

Another incident saw the Mercedes team release Kimi Antonelli from the garage straight into the side of Yuki Tsunoda, causing significant damage to the side of the Red Bull.

Now Ferrari has a rebuild job on their hands with Hamilton’s car. Red Bull has work to do to sort Tsunoda’s damage, McLaren needs to check Norris’ floor after he ran wide early in the session, and Mercedes needs to give Antonelli’s car a once over.

2025 Abu Dhabi GP Practice 3 Results