Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the pace during the final practice session of the season at Formula 1’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Verstappen clocked a time of 1:36.556 to finish just 0.074s clear of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, with Valtteri Bottas a mere 0.015s further behind in third position.
Alexander Albon ensured Red Bull’s drivers sandwiched the Mercedes pairing, with Ferrari shirking the Soft tyres to set their best times on Medium tyres.
It left Sebastian Vettel fifth, with Charles Leclerc sixth, albeit the duo still within half a second of pacesetter Verstappen.
Racing Point’s Sergio Perez led the midfield group in seventh position, half a second down on Leclerc, with Daniel Ricciardo showing improved pace for Renault in eighth.
Carlos Sainz Jr. put McLaren into ninth position while Pierre Gasly again finished at the foot of the top 10, two spots ahead of Toro Rosso team-mate Alexander Albon.
Romain Grosjean, running a different specification floor after his FP2 clash with Bottas, placed 11th, as the lead Haas driver, with Lando Norris 13th and Kevin Magnussen 14th.
Lance Stroll was unable to match the pace of team-mate Stroll and classified 15th, while Alfa Romeo struggled once more, leaving Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi only 16th and 18th.
Nico Hulkenberg was a low-key 17th and has been summoned to the stewards over allegedly impeding Albon through Turn 17, which forced the Red Bull driver to run wide in avoidance.
Williams finished at the back, George Russell six-tenths in front of Robert Kubica.
Qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will begin at 17:00 local time (GMT +4)
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