Here is our full text transcript from the third free practice session for the 2023 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which took place at the 5.281-kilometre Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island:
Welcome to qualifying day! We’re back at the Yas Marina Circuit for the final qualifying day of the 2023 season. Before that, we’ve got a final practice session that has taken on heightened importance after a highly disrupted Friday. 10 rookies featured in first practice, before half of the second session was lost to red flags after crashes for Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg. While the daytime conditions might not provide the full picture ahead of qualifying under the lights later today, teams will be keen to test out their overnight changes.
An update to the Race Director’s notes this morning after this incident in second practice yesterday, when Max Verstappen went over the kerb to overtake the Mercedes drivers in the pit-lane exit road:
“Qualifying As per article 33.4 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, drivers are not allowed to drive unnecessarily slowly, that includes stopping a car in the fast lane of the pit lane. Additionally, overtaking is prohibited in the pit exit road unless a car slows with an obvious problem.”
60 mins to go: We’re off and underway in the Abu Dhabi sunshine for the final hour of practice running in 2023. First out into the pit lane is Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, who certainly wasn’t especially happy at the end of his single (heavily disrupted) session in the car yesterday. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso’s straight out behind, and soon moves ahead on track.
55 mins to go: Lewis Hamilton’s first time of the session, on soft tyres, is a 1:25.612. The Ferrari SF-23 cars are also out, on mediums, and Carlos Sainz immediately goes quicker than the Mercedes by 0.003s. 1.8s away from where we ended up yesterday.
51 mins to go: “That’s a strong lap. Not bad,” says Anthony Davidson as Sergio Perez uncorks a very decent opening effort in these hot conditions to go 1.2s clear of Sainz. 1:25.417 is the new early The Red Bull was on the quicker soft tyres, but that’s nonetheless a very handy time for this point of the session. Team-mate Max Verstappen is yet to take to the track.
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47 mins to go: Sergio Perez’s advantage is down to 0.4s as Lando Norris, despite not the tidiest of laps, goes second now to the Red Bull. “McLaren feel they are back in the game after Vegas,” reports Ted Kravitz. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll is currently fourth with Lewis Hamilton fifth and Fernando Alonso sixth. Max Verstappen is now on his first out lap of the session, so let’s see what the world champion has got.
43 mins to go: With track conditions ramping up, a first flier of P3 takes George Russell to the top of the timesheet on a 1:25.163. Max Verstappen’s effort isn’t quite as stellar mind; he’s third after his opening lap, 0.499s off the pace of the Mercedes so far. Aston Martin are quick out of the blocks in this session with Lance Stroll in third and Fernando Alonso just posing a time that puts him in fourth. It will be a big ask to get on the first couple of rows in qualifying, so Aston Martin will need to nail the setup for later on today.
38 mins to go: Seemingly waiting for conditions and grip to improve, AlphaTauri are only just now sending Tsunoda and Ricciardo out for their first laps of P3. The team have a new floor here this weekend so will want to collect more data on performance.
36 mins to go: George Russell is really on form this weekend as he goes even faster on a 1:24.829, which is only 0.015s slower than Charles Leclerc’s practice two time from yesterday. Russell is really at home in the Mercedes in Abu Dhabi. A quickest overall middle sector for the world champion isn’t enough to dislodge George Russell from the head of the timesheet, with the Red Bull dropping quite a bit of time in the final sector and finishing up 0.5s back on his latest push lap. Red Bull two and three with Mercedes still up top.
29 mins to go: Oscar Piastri puts in a strong lap lap, on a set of softs he’s already done a flying lap on, to go third and half a second behind Russell. 27 laps completed across the two Ferrari cars so far, but all on the medium compound hence why they are 16th and 17th on the timesheet. Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz points out that “Ferrari are going about their business in a methodical way, doing race runs. I have been keeping up with their race runs and have been doing middle-low 1:30s. A solid session.”
21 mins to go: Ferrari have been joined on long runs by Fernando Alonso and the Alpines, with half the field in the garages at the moment. We should get another final round of low-fuel qualy-style sims before the chequered flag.
15 mins to go: George Russell is flying and sets a new fastest time of the weekend so far! He finds a tenth in Sector 1, two tenths in Sector 2 and another couple tenths in the final sector on his previous best time. Alex Albon is now second, Esteban Ocon is third and Logan Sargeant is fourth. More drivers are putting on a new set of softs. 11 mins to go: Wow, Lando Norris has a massive slide in the final corner but still goes second and is 0.095s behind Russell. McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri slots into third, a further four tenths adrift.
8 mins to go: The Red Bull changes haven’t worked as Max Verstappen is two tenths down after the first sector and has a big slide out of Turn 5 before backing out. The world champion is not the favourite going into qualifying…
5 mins to go: And Charles Leclerc is only fifth for Ferrari – 0.681s behind Russell. Carlos Sainz goes 19th, over one second off the pace. Maybe it’s a case of Ferrari and Verstappen setting their cars up more for the cooler conditions in qualifying.
3 mins to go: Red Bull have changed the torsion bar on Verstappen’s car in a bid to minimise the jumping Verstappen is experiencing. He’s back out there and will go for it again before the chequered flag. Lewis Hamilton is also getting ready for a fast lap.
That’s always the almost-unique challenge of this final practice session in Abu Dhabi – teams needing to weigh up how to perfect their set-up for qualifying given conditions right now aren’t how they’ll be from Q1 under the floodlights later on.
Being quick in the sunshine of P3 certainly has the prospect of being misleading for the evening conditions of Qualy, and visa-versa. It’s a tricky one for teams to weigh up…
1 min to go: It’s not that much better for Verstappen as he loses two tenths in the first sector and half a second in the last sector to end up 0.735s behind Russell.
Chequered flag: Some final laps still to be completed, but George Russell is poised to finish fastest from Lando Norris here. It’s certainly a very strange-looking P3 timesheet. Alex Albon is fourth for Williams…but Max Verstappen is 0.7s away from Russell in sixth. The Ferraris are fifth and 20th…with Lewis Hamilton 0.8s back on team-mate Russell in 12th. Different fuel loads at play through the field?! It seems quite probable, but it’s fascinating nonetheless ahead of qualifying.
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