Oscar Piastri led a dominant McLaren one-two in the final practice session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with teammate Lando Norris just behind him. Ferrari, title rivals, struggled to keep pace, nearly half a second off the top spot.
Practice conditions were unrepresentative of qualifying and the night-time race, with temperatures reaching 104 degrees F. Piastri set the pace on fresh soft tires, beating Norris by 0.193s, and took the lead in FP2 on Friday night.
Lewis Hamilton moved into third place after improving on a second performance run, but still trailed behind by 0.39s. Max Verstappen was fourth, 0.411s off the pace due to concerns about his front brakes.
Ferrari’s best constructor contender, Carlos Sainz, finished fifth, with Charles Leclerc ninth fastest and carrying a 10-place grid penalty due to a battery change. Leclerc expressed frustration over his gap to the front, saying “We are nowhere.”
George Russell was confused by his lack of pace, despite feeling that his car felt okay. Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were closely matched in Haas’ second and third cars, both separated from Russell by just 0.001s.
The top 10 saw Sergio Perez complete the session in tenth place, with Yuki Tsunoda ahead of him in a tight group of eight cars. The bottom three spots went to Alex Albon in Williams, Pierre Gasly for Alpine, and Jack Doohan’s teammate, who was just 0.026s slower than Gasly.
Valtteri Bottas, Liam Lawson, and Lance Stroll filled out the lower half of the grid, with Zhou Guanyu lagging behind by 1.235s.
Source: https://racer.com/2024/12/07/mclaren-locks-out-top-two-spots-in-final-f1-practice-of-the-year