McLaren head into Qualifying as the team to beat in Abu Dhabi

McLaren secured a second 1-2 finish during the final practice session of the season in Abu Dhabi, with Oscar Piastri ending FP3 as the fastest driver ahead of his teammate. 

The final FP3 session of the year got off to a quiet start, with many drivers remaining in the comfort of the pitlane as the initial minutes of the session ticked by.

Fernando Alonso was the first contender to take to the track, describing the Aston Martin as the “worst car ever” earlier in the weekend before maximising on the final hour of practice.

Echoing Alonso’s now-positive remarks regarding Saturday, Jack Doohan joined the limited haul of drivers on track to record an opening time of 1:25.633s.

Just one of two drivers to set a time, the Australian held onto the second-fastest time of the day through the opening 20 minutes of FP3.

Originally, the Australian’s first-ever lap time in an FP3 session was 1.163s off the then-benchmark, however, Doohan quickly proved himself when he carved into his time on his next tour around the Yas Marina Circuit, sitting five-tenths behind Pierre Gasly.

The Australian struggled to improve on his final push lap, occupying P16 ahead of the all-important Abu Dhabi qualifying session.

Doohan reached a high of P5 during the final practice session, taking the chequered flag as a  bottom ten driver in FP3.’

Liam Lawson was in no hurry to start his final hour of practice, even after sitting at a significant deficit to his constructors’ championship competitors during yesterday’s running.

Surprisingly, the Kiwi opened the session on the hard compound tyre, however, unsurprisingly sat at the back end of the order after completing three C3 laps.

Lawson fell to the very bottom of the pack, with the hard tyre leaving him as the slowest driver of the first half of FP3.

The Kiwi returned to the pitlane, struggling in the final practice session after running 1,1 seconds behind in FP3.

The Kiwi ended the session with a second 1-2 finish in Abu Dhabi.

After nearly 20 minutes of silence during FP3, Oscar Piastri finally took to the Yas Marina Circuit, laying down the fourth fastest medium tyre time on his opening lap.

Piastri recorded the fastest opening sector of the session, however, as he crossed the line, the #81 failed to improve on his primary lap, instead remaining as the sixth fastest driver on the hard tyre.

After making the change to the C5, Lawson sat five-tenths behind the benchmark during the mid-session lull, rejoining FP3 with 15 minutes remaining.

On the C5, Piastri recorded three purple Sectors, accumulating to a time of 1:23.433s.

That lap guided the 23-year-old to the top of the FP3 timing sheets, with Leclerc admitting Ferrari was “nowhere” in FP3 as the Italian team sat well off the benchmark in P5 and P9.

As for the rest of the field, the Haas duo sat at the head of the timing sheets during the opening 20 minutes of running, with the fastest man in FP2 only just managing to split the teammates on his first run.

Charles Leclerc launched around the 5.2km circuit, and despite being handed a new battery for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend, the Monegasque couldn’t quite improve on his customer teams’ time, while Carlos Sainz’s SF-24 billowed smoke on his primary lap.

Max Verstappen also had his fair share of struggles in FP3, pushing his RB20 to the limit on the medium tyre.

Going purple in Sectors 1 and 2, Alex Albon soon outpaced his former teammate, however, the Williams driver’s fate would see him condemned to the bottom ten, just under a second clear of the top time, with the McLaren duo headed by the #81 as the chequered flag was waved.

Image: Zak Mauger / LAT Images

Free Practice 3 Results:

2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Schedule: 

Friday, December 6:

FP1: 20:30 – 21:30

Saturday, December 7:

FP2: 00:00 – 01:00

FP3: 21:30 – 22:30

Sunday, December 8:

Qualifying: 01:00 – 02:00

Monday, December 9:

Race: 00:00

READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF AUTO ACTION HERE

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.