Verstappen tops final practice session of the year at Yas Marina

In the final practice session before the final race of the 2020 season, it was Max Verstappen who topped the timesheets in Abu Dhabi ahead of his team-mate Alexander Albon at Aston Martin Red Bull Racing.

The session was quiet to say the least, as it took more than twenty minutes for a car to appear on track, largely due to the unrepresentative conditions. Drivers shied away from risking all on track before Qualifying given that the track temperature wouldn’t necessarily give them the much-needed data they yearned for.

After what felt like an eternity, cars began to emerge from the pit-tunnel to test their limits on the track. Namely, Nicholas Latifi and the two Haas F1 Team cars, closely followed by the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN duo. Latifi was the first to set a lap-time on the soft tyres and he went on to end the session a familiar nineteenth.

The rest of the field soon followed, and the session was in full swing with thirty-five minutes to go. The majority were running the red-walled tyres in order to complete Qualifying simulations, but a number of drivers decided to mix-up the strategy and use the mediums. One of whom was Lance Stroll, who set a laptime good enough for seventh overall.

The session concluded soon after with the two Red Bull’s at the top of the table with Verstappen 0.501s clear of second place Albon. Daniel Ricciardo was just 0.125s behind in third- closely followed by his Renault F1 Team partner Esteban Ocon who also showed strong pace.

McLaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris completed the top five ahead of world champion Lewis Hamilton upon his return to the cockpit, and BWT Racing Point F1 Team’s Stroll finished behind him on the weekend they hope to bag third in the constructors. Carlos Sainz Jr. finished eighth in his last outing for McLaren just 0.017s ahead of Valtteri Bottas in ninth, and F1’s newest race winner Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten.

Qualifying will start in just two hours-time, and as per usual it looks to be a fight between Hamilton, Verstappen and Bottas for pole. Mercedes have taken pole in every race bar one so far in 2020 and it would no doubt be a pleasant surprise to see that streak broken. However, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner divulged the silver arrows likely have ‘eight tenths in hand’ in the battle for pole- making it incredibly tricky for hard-charging Verstappen. As was the case yesterday, the midfield was separated by the finest of margins, so it’s all to play for later today.

Free Practice Three Timings:

Pos	#	Driver	Nat.	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	33	Max Verstappen	NED	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	1:36.251		16
2	23	Alexander Albon	THA	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	1:36.752	0.501s	15
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	Renault DP World F1 Team	1:36.877	0.626s	12
4	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Renault DP World F1 Team	1:36.899	0.648s	15
5	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1:36.994	0.743s	13
6	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:37.012	0.761s	16
7	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	BWT Racing Point Formula One Team	1:37.030	0.779s	16
8	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	ESP	McLaren F1 Team	1:37.068	0.817s	12
9	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:37.085	0.834s	16
10	11	Sergio Pérez	MEX	BWT Racing Point Formula One Team	1:37.227	0.976s	13
11	26	Daniil Kvyat	RUS	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1:37.266	1.015s	17
12	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1:37.270	1.019s	14
13	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1:37.371	1.120s	18
14	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Scuderia Ferrari	1:37.728	1.477s	16
15	63	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	1:37.886	1.635s	16
16	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:37.900	1.649s	16
17	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:38.269	2.018s	16
18	20	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas F1 Team	1:38.457	2.206s	14
19	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1:38.765	2.514s	17
20	51	Pietro Fittipaldi	BRA	Haas F1 Teamm	1:39.159	2.908s	15

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