The final free practice session for the 2023 Formula 1 season took place earlier today at the 5.281-kilometre Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island, with teams preparing for both qualifying and tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Yesterday afternoon’s session, the most indicative for qualifying and the race, lacked action due to two red flags. To make up for the lost work, drivers and teams utilized the last free practice session to best prepare for the official sessions. Let’s see how the teams, particularly Ferrari, fared in the race pace simulation ahead of the Abu Dhabi GP.
How did Ferrari perform in the final free practice session at the Yas Marina circuit?
Progression of lap times during the race pace simulation of the cars. Source: F1inGenerale
The work of the Maranello team differed from that of other teams. After Charles Leclerc’s excellent FP2, Ferrari chose to conduct tests in preparation for tomorrow’s race. The final free practice session of the weekend saw the SF-23s take to the track with yellow tires and start work on the qualifying simulation. A somewhat unusual situation considering the temperature and time. However, this work was necessary to be on par with the other teams in terms of tire usage.
After finishing work on low fuel, the two Ferraris made a quick stop in the pits to refuel and start the race pace simulation. The chosen tire was the same as the previous run, a medium tire with 3 laps of life. Their run started with an attack time similar to the others, around the 1:30 mark. As the laps progressed, both cars showed little aggression on the already worn tires. The emerged degradation was constant, with lap times being kept fairly close to the attack time. Therefore, a good performance by Ferrari is expected in this race, as they demonstrated good tire management and respectable lap times with high fuel loads.
Average lap times during the short race pace simulation. Source: F1inGenerale
The performance of the two Red Bulls is still to be deciphered. Max Verstappen completed a very short run with a new red tire and achieved impressive times. Probably, his RB19 was very low on fuel, a condition that allowed the world champion to set absurd lap times. Perez’s race pace simulation was within normal parameters, but he turned out to be slightly slower than the two Ferraris, despite using the red tire.
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Lewis Hamilton is even further behind, as with his W14 and a tire advantage, he lapped almost 1 second slower than the two Ferrari drivers. Probably, he is not perfectly comfortable with the setup, unlike George Russell, who set the fastest lap in the final free practice session for the ABu Dhabi Grand Prix. However, there is not enough data for the driver of car #63 to analyze his race pace.
Source: f1ingenerale
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