Practice report
Formula 1
Abu Dhabi GP: Hamilton leads Bottas as Mercedes dominates FP3
Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes 1-2 in the final free practice session of the 2017 season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Valentin Khorounzhiy
Edited: Nov 25, 2017, 12:41 PM
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Hamilton set the fastest lap of the weekend so far to end up 0.273s ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas at the chequered flag.
The hour-long daytime session was incident-free for the most part but featured a memorable virtual safety car interruption midway through, initiated after wind had left an umbrella on the racing line at the Turn 8 left-hander.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen set the early benchmark in the session with a 1m38.999s on ultrasofts – and despite the Finn having locked his left front tyre on entry into the Turn 7 hairpin, neither teammate Sebastian Vettel, nor Bottas could surpass him with their first attempts.
Yet Hamilton could, the Briton logging a 1m38.702s on his first try to go top. Bottas then went 0.065s quicker, but the 2017 champion strung together three session-best sectors in response for an overall laptime of 1m38.159s.
He then tried two more push laps on the same set as the session approached halfway point but couldn't improve, his earlier lap still enough for him to end the run half a second in the clear.
When the frontrunners went out again, having bolted on new ultrasofts, Raikkonen reclaimed the top spot for Ferrari by just 0.002s – with Vettel then slotting in 0.017s behind.
But Hamilton responded again, producing a 1m37.627s lap that surpassed the weekend benchmark the Briton himself had set in the twilight FP2 session on Friday.
Bottas, who narrowly avoided a major off in the final corner, then slotted into second – and with no further improvements within the top four, Raikkonen and Vettel were left half a second off the pace in third and fourth at the flag.
Daniel Ricciardo led the way for Red Bull in fifth, 0.713s off the pace and two tenths up on Max Verstappen, his teammate audibly frustrated by the handling of the RB13.
The two McLarens led the midfield pack, Fernando Alonso ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne in seventh, with Renault newcomer Carlos Sainz and Force India's Sergio Perez making up the top 10.
Williams driver Felipe Massa ended his final practice session in F1 in 11th, more than a second ahead of teammate Lance Stroll.
Toro Rosso, narrowly ahead of Renault and Haas in the fight for sixth in the constructors' standings, had a rough session – with Pierre Gasly only 18th and Brendon Hartley, who will be taking his fourth grid penalty in four F1 races, last.
Free practice 3 results
ClaDriverChassisEngineLapsTimeGap 1 
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 19 1'37.627 2 
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes Mercedes 21 1'37.900 0.273 3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari 22 1'38.157 0.530 4 
Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari 22 1'38.174 0.547 5 
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG 16 1'38.340 0.713 6 
Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG 14 1'38.587 0.960 7 
Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 15 1'39.155 1.528 8 
Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 18 1'39.277 1.650 9 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault Renault 15 1'39.340 1.713 10 
Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 19 1'39.367 1.740 11 
Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 16 1'39.383 1.756 12 Nico Hulkenberg Renault Renault 18 1'39.396 1.769 13 
Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 18 1'39.500 1.873 14 
Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 19 1'39.831 2.204 15 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 19 1'40.079 2.452 16 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 20 1'40.307 2.680 17 
Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 16 1'40.572 2.945 18 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso Renault 21 1'40.737 3.110 19 
Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 21 1'40.789 3.162 20 
Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso Renault 23 1'40.883 3.256
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