F1 Live: Third free practice session for the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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- GPblog.com
It's time for the very last free practice of the 2021 season, the third free practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The long runs were completed on Friday and in the third practice session, the drivers will perfect the car for qualifying.
Liveblog | FP3: 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
In the first free practice, it was Max Verstappen who clocked the fastest time, but in FP2 he had to let his title rival Lewis Hamilton ahead. Mercedes are looking strong, but they and Verstappen may not be getting the most out of it yet. In this session, Mercedes will install Hamilton's 'spicy' engine that completed races in Brazil and Saudi Arabia. This is expected to give them a performance advantage, but Christian Horner suggested that Red Bull will be able to find lap time elsewhere.
On Friday, Verstappen's long-run pace looked positive for the Dutchman. He ran much of his long run stint on the soft tyre, meaning Red Bull could be looking at an aggressive two-stop race around the Yas Marina. It could be possible that Verstappen wants to start on the softs to get a good start off the line on the run down to turn one.
Qualifying runs in free practice
On Saturday the first small battle can be won. FP3 will be mainly dedicated to the qualifying session that will take place later in the day. Both Hamilton and Verstappen will want to start Sunday's Grand Prix with as much advantage as possible and will be hoping to secure pole position on Saturday afternoon.