F1 Abu Dhabi GP live commentary and updates - FP3
Follow along for the final F1 practice session of 2025 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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And that's all from us for now! We'll be back a little bit later to guide you qualifying as it happens - please do join us again!
That's it for practice sessions this year. Just the small matter of qualifying and the race to go...
The remains of Hamilton's Ferrari
Photo by: Ronald Vording
FP3 complete!
Verstappen improves slightly with his last lap of the session, now just 0.124s off Russell and 0.120s off Norris.
Russell leads the session, then - so Mercedes is very much in the fight for pole here.
Ocon's found a good time to get up to sixth, perhaps he's found a fix for his braking woes. As it stands, the top 17 is all within 0.8s.
Norris can't quite improve either, despite improvement in the opening two sectors.
Some damage to Tsunoda's sidepod and floor, so he's ended up coming back in. Albon had ringside seats for the incident.
"The car still jumps, I can't keep my feet on the pedals," Verstappen reports.
The McLarens go out for a second set of laps on the same softs - Piastri is a smidgen slower than his previous effort.
Antonelli drove out of the pitlane and straight into the path of Tsunoda - which has caused damage to the Italian's front wing.
Better news for Mercedes is that Russell has gone to the top, 0.004s up on Norris. Verstappen goes third fastest, 0.180s off Russell's effort.
Bortoleto was matching Norris through that lap, as was Alonso - but their final sector times were well down on that of Norris.
You can get close in those opening sectors, as they're mainly affected by the braking into Turns 5, 6, and 7. But the final sector is the difficult bit.
Norris looked unsteady through Turn 6 and 7, and has to correct himself. He's down on Piastri out of the opening two sectors, but finds a monster final sector to post a 1m23.338s.
Hulkenberg's on a quick lap too, although has a small correction in the final sector - thus, he's 0.532s down.
Verstappen does a 1m24.116s, while Tsunoda aborts his lap.
But Piastri demonstrates the worth of those new tyres, and posts a 1m23.593s to go top by some margin.
Here we are - fresh softs for Piastri, Norris, and Stroll. Verstappen's on a swift one as we speak...
And we go again, 17 minutes on the clock. Nobody has gone out on fresh tyres, so perhaps they're saving a final set of softs until the final 10 minutes or so.
Alright, we're ready to go - almost. We'll restart in a minute's time.
We're just waiting for the go-ahead while Hamilton's car gets picked out of the Tecpro barrier - and, of course, for the barrier to be sorted.
Bit of repair work for Ferrari to do too, as the front-right suspension is hanging on by a thread.
Hamilton was on a quick lap and, on the turn-in to Turn 9 at the end of the second back stretch, the rear just went out from under him.
"Something buckled at the front and snapped the rear," Hamilton reported, as he gets out of the car.
Hamilton spins at Turn 9 and goes into the wall!
Bearman posts another lap, 0.086s off Verstappen's benchmark. He's been quick all weekend so far.
McLaren has more to find on its subsequent runs, although both drivers did their first soft-tyre laps relatively early into the session compared to those in the top five. Mercedes too, as Russell's only 13th and Antonelli's 17th.
Hamilton hits a 1m24.470s to go fastest, but is beaten by Verstappen by 0.225s. Stroll sets a time just 0.059s off Verstappen's effort.
Tsunoda, after that near-miss, splits the two Saubers - who are currently sixth and eighth.
Woah! Norris came across a very slow Tsunoda on the exit of Turn 11, and very nearly resulted in the two coming together.
Shades of Rosberg and Karthikeyan in the 2012 race there, when the then-Mercedes driver saw the HRT too late.
Norris sets a 1m24.533s on his second run on those softs. Tsunoda is up to second - or was, as Leclerc, then Bearman, go up to P2 - Bearman just 0.008s off.
Piastri is 0.595s off Norris at the present moment, in fifth. Laps coming in thick and fast now.
Stroll, Alonso fined for no-show at scheduled fan zone appearance
Both Aston Martin drivers have been given a €25,000 fine for not appearing at a scheduled fan engagement activity - with €15,000 of that suspended for 12 months.
The team had apparently said to both drivers that their appearances weren't required due to them stepping back for Jak Crawford and Cian Shields in FP1. Aston Martin has offered to make it up to the fans by making both drivers available for an appearance later this weekend.
Norris sets a 1m24.728s, so the circuit's not quite where it was at the end of yesterday.
But we expect it to ramp up a bit towards the end of the session. Leclerc does a time and goes second fastest, but he's over a second off Norris.
Here comes one of the big hitters, as Lando Norris breaks onto the circuit. Charles Leclerc also arrives on the scene.
Gasly has set a 1m25.984s, and Colapinto with a 1m26.591s, with our first timed laps of the season.
Colapinto and Gasly hit the road now, on Renault's final F1 weekend as an engine supplier...for now.
It's not the first time we've said that - Renault left at the end of 1986 and 1997 - and in both cases, returned within five years.
The works Renault engine teams Williams and Benetton
Photo by: Motorsport Images
It's still just the Aston Martin duo doing their laps around the circuit. Both Alonso and Stroll were summoned to the stewards for missing the fan engagement activities earlier on today.
I'm sure they had more important things to do, Aston Martin's drivers really don't need distractions right now as they battle for *checks notes* seventh in the constructors' championship.
Here we go, two Aston Martins going out for their weekly tyre scrub.
In the meantime, we've got F1's car performance graphic on the screen, which almost certainly means nothing.
FP3 begins!
...but no takers just yet. Limited tyres across a weekend, of course, so teams don't want to go out just yet.
Give it a few minutes.
And here's your weather watch: it's 27C and a little cloudy out there, with 38C track temperature.
Last orders in FP3
It's the last chance for our 20 drivers to get acquainted to their cars over a practice session, before we get into qualifying later on.
We'll see if there's any big overnight changes - did McLaren and Red Bull find anything extra, and will Mercedes supply a bit more of a challenge, or will Haas and Sauber continue to surprise?
Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
Verstappen: Red Bull must be "faster" after Norris leads FP2
Max Verstappen is currently feeling pessimistic about his Abu Dhabi Grand Prix chances as Red Bull lacks pace to McLaren at the 2025 Formula 1 title showdown.
The four-time world champion finished runner-up to McLaren championship leader Lando Norris in both FP1 (+0.008s) and FP2 (+0.363s) on Friday at Yas Marina Circuit.
It comes during the season finale where Norris simply needs a podium finish to claim a maiden title, as he is 12 points ahead of Verstappen and 16 above team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Friday race pace analysis - McLaren, Red Bull evenly matched
FP2 recap
Lando Norris ended the final Friday practice session of 2025 on top of the FP2 standings at the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, over three tenths clear of Max Verstappen - as Oscar Piastri was only 11th.
FP2
| Cla | Driver | # | Chassis | Engine | Laps | Time | Interval | Tyres | km/h | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  L. Norris McLaren |
4 |  |
McLaren | Mercedes | 28 |
1'23.083 |
S | 228.826 | |||
| 2 |  M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing |
1 |  |
Red Bull | Red Bull | 31 |
+0.363 1'23.446 |
0.363 | S | 227.831 | ||
| 3 | G. Russell Mercedes |
63 |  |
Mercedes | Mercedes | 29 |
+0.379 1'23.462 |
0.016 | S | 227.787 | ||
| 4 | O. Bearman Haas F1 Team |
87 |  |
Haas | Ferrari | 28 |
+0.418 1'23.501 |
0.039 | S | 227.681 | ||
| 5 |  N. Hulkenberg Sauber |
27 |  |
Sauber | Ferrari | 28 |
+0.467 1'23.550 |
0.049 | S | 227.547 | ||
| 6 |  G. Bortoleto Sauber |
5 |  |
Sauber | Ferrari | 28 |
+0.487 1'23.570 |
0.020 | S | 227.493 | ||
| 7 |  I. Hadjar RB |
6 |  |
RB | Honda | 29 |
+0.574 1'23.657 |
0.087 | S | 227.256 | ||
| 8 |  C. Leclerc Ferrari |
16 |  |
Ferrari | Ferrari | 31 |
+0.575 1'23.658 |
0.001 | S | 227.253 | ||
| 9 |  F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing |
14 |  |
Aston Martin | Mercedes | 27 |
+0.625 1'23.708 |
0.050 | S | 227.118 | ||
| 10 |  A. Antonelli Mercedes |
12 |  |
Mercedes | Mercedes | 29 |
+0.667 1'23.750 |
0.042 | S | 227.004 | ||
| View full results | ||||||||||||
F1 practice at the Abu Dhabi GP - coming soon!
Hello everyone, and welcome back to our coverage of practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
And it's the last practice session of the season, before we get into the business end of the year-long title battle.
So, let's savour it.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
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