The last free practice saw crashes, investigations and a difference of only 0s004 between Russell and Norris before the final classification.
The morning in Abu Dhabi ended in excitement in the final free practice session of the season, marked by fast laps, crashes and investigations. George Russell came out on top in a very close session, beating Lando Norris by just four thousandths. There was a pit lane collision, a red flag and sharp disputes on the track, which changed frequently during FP3. With mixed rhythms and surprises in the group, the qualifying scenario was completely unpredictable.
The session started busy, with different tire compounds being used. Norris, Hamilton and Piastri chose straight soft tyres, while teams such as Racing Bulls and Kick Sauber opted for medium tyres. Alonso alternated between hard compounds and previously used C3 and C4 tyres.
Norris set his first time of 1:24.728 minutes, three-tenths higher than his best time in the first practice session. He was still the pole winner from the previous year and also the winner of that race, with the Ferrari duo completing the podium.
Initially, Piastri recorded his first lap on the soft tyres, but finished nearly six tenths behind Norris after a poor final sector. However, the Australian showed strong pace while Verstappen remained in the pits for some time.
Shortly afterwards, Norris was nearly involved in an accident when he found Tsunoda slow on the racing line during his fast lap; He had to escape across the sidewalk, and the Japanese raised his hand apologetically. The commissioners took note of the move.
Hamilton led by a margin of one minute and 24.470 seconds, at a time when Ferrari seemed more balanced than the previous day, which Leclerc confirmed via radio. But Verstappen responded quickly and took first place with a lap of 1:24.245 seconds. Biermann was also impressive, repeating his good form from the previous day and appearing among the quickest since his first outing.
The session was halted after Hamilton lost the rear on the entrance at turn nine and hit the wall. A combination of turbulence from the vehicle in front, light contact with the curb and the bottom of the vehicle hitting the ground likely contributed to the accident. The Briton picked up a piece of the broken front wing and walked away, clearly frustrated, as Ferrari prepared to carry out extensive repairs ahead of qualifying.
Before the red flag, Verstappen was leading by just 0.059 seconds, followed by Stroll and Permanent. Leclerc finished fifth, while Norris, Bortoletto, Tsunoda, Lawson and Ocon completed the top ten.
When the session resumed, Lawson led the field out of the pits, followed by Hajjar, and the different teams mixed the soft and medium tires on the still-developing track. Norris returned on new soft tyres, as did Piastri and Stroll, while part of the grid chose to stay on used tyres, perhaps betting on one fast lap at the end.
In the final moments, the hour passed quickly in a surprisingly busy session, marked by incidents and three cases sent to the stewards: a possible blockage between Norris and Tsunoda, an unsafe release by Albon after the session resumed, and another unsafe release of Kimi Antonelli towards the end.
Shortly before that, new images showed the moment of contact in the pit lane. Tsunoda had left his mine first and was heading to the fast track when Mercedes released Antonelli. While accelerating towards the exit, the young driver did not see the Red Bull appear in his blind spot and ended up crashing into the side of the competing car. Antonelli lost his front wing and had to return to the pits, while AlphaTauri checked for possible damage to the side and floor of Tsunoda’s car.
Supervisors confirmed that the incident involving Antonelli will be investigated after the end of training. The collision between him and Tsunoda occurred in the pit lane when Mercedes apparently launched its driver into the path of the Red Bull, resulting in the loss of the Italian’s front wing. Inspectors also worked to clean up pieces of carbon fiber scattered at the pit exit, ending a hectic session that gave the teams and race management a lot of work.
George Russell finished the last free practice in the Mercedes lead, beating Lando Norris by just 0s004. Max Verstappen still managed to improve in the latter part of the session and came close, as he was 0s124 behind Russell, while Fernando Alonso emerged fourth and Oscar Piastri closed out the top five. Thus, the scenario remained completely open to classification.
Qualifying was scheduled to take place at 11 a.m. Brasilia time, the final session of the year in Formula 1, which brings together the strong favorites in the battle for pole position.