Sergio Perez, Red Bull, Yas Marina, 2022

Perez heads Red Bull one-two over Mercedes in final Abu Dhabi practice

2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix third practice

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Sergio Perez headed a Red Bull one-two ahead of Mercedes in final practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit.

Perez’s best time of a 1’24.982 saw him head into qualifying a tenth-and-a-half quicker than Max Verstappen, with Lewis Hamilton almost a quarter of a second behind in third. However the Mercedes driver is under investigation for failing to reduce his speed sufficiently when the red flag was shown.

It was a typically bright, warm start to Saturday in Abu Dhabi as the final practice hour of the 2022 season began. With the track hotter than it likely would be for any further session in the weekend, very few drivers chose to head out in the early part of the session.

The two Ferraris of Carlos Sainz Jnr and Charles Leclerc enjoyed the track to themselves in the early minutes, with Sainz setting the initial benchmark of a 1’27.821 on medium tyres before Leclerc beat his team mate by half a second on his first flying lap.

Mercedes then took to the track on the soft tyres, with Lewis Hamilton going easily fastest with a 1’26.040, while team mate George Russell moved into second with lap just under half a second slower than his team mate.

Leclerc improved on his original set of mediums to go second quickest, half-a-tenth slower than Hamilton, while the two Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon used mediums to go third and fourth fastest-respectively.

Lando Norris alerted his team to a possible brake fire on his front-left wheel and was told to pit and abandon his run. He was soon sent back out again, McLaren seemingly satisfied his car was safe. Soon after, Sebastian Vettel reported a similar problem on his Aston Martin, with smoke visibly rising from his own left-front wheel.

Perez set a new fastest time of the session with a 1’25.861 on the medium tyres, before practice was red-flagged at the half-hour mark when Pierre Gasly suffered a failure at the front-left of his car at the exit of turn nine, leaving a small piece of debris just off the racing line. While the debris was cleared, Hamilton appeared to overtake both Norris and Kevin Magnussen under the red flag on the approach to turn five. Hamilton will be investigated after practice for failing to slow under red flag.

The session resumed shortly afterwards, with many teams opting to head out on soft tyres to work on their single lap pace ahead of qualifying. Hamilton moved back to the top of the times with his first effort, before Perez went almost a quarter of a second quicker than the Mercedes to retake the top spot. Verstappen moved into second place by improving his personal best time, but lost time after running wide at the exit of the turn five hairpin.

Despite a late rush out onto the circuit for the final minutes, only the Ferrari of Leclerc improved at the chequered flag, moving to sixth position. Perez therefore ended the session as the fastest driver, ahead of team mate Verstappen and the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell. Norris was fifth in the McLaren, ahead of the two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz. Daniel Ricciardo was eighth in the second McLaren, with Sebastian Vettel completing his final practice session of his career in ninth position. Alexander Albon completed the top 10.

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2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix third practice result

PositionNumberDriverTeamModelTimeGapLaps
111Sergio PerezRed BullRB181’24.98215
21Max VerstappenRed BullRB181’25.1340.15215
344Lewis HamiltonMercedesW131’25.2220.24020
463George RussellMercedesW131’25.3950.41315
54Lando NorrisMcLaren-MercedesMCL361’25.5180.53616
616Charles LeclercFerrariF1-751’25.5710.58924
755Carlos Sainz JnrFerrariF1-751’25.6050.62323
83Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-MercedesMCL361’25.9500.96818
95Sebastian VettelAston Martin-MercedesAMR221’26.0121.03013
1023Alexander AlbonWilliams-MercedesFW441’26.0511.06916
1131Esteban OconAlpine-RenaultA5221’26.0731.09117
1214Fernando AlonsoAlpine-RenaultA5221’26.0761.09418
1322Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Red BullAT031’26.1701.18819
1477Valtteri BottasAlfa Romeo-FerrariC421’26.1891.20717
1510Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Red BullAT031’26.2391.25712
1618Lance StrollAston Martin-MercedesAMR221’26.2981.31620
1720Kevin MagnussenHaas-FerrariVF-221’26.3561.37421
1847Mick SchumacherHaas-FerrariVF-221’26.4731.49119
1924Zhou GuanyuAlfa Romeo-FerrariC421’26.4821.50017
206Nicholas LatifiWilliams-MercedesFW441’26.6461.66414

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Full practice times

PositionNumberDriverTeamFP1 timeFP2 timeFP3 timeGapLaps
111Sergio PerezRed Bull1’26.9671’25.8521’24.9825
21Max VerstappenRed Bull1’25.1461’25.1340.1521
344Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’26.6331’25.7611’25.2220.2404
463George RussellMercedes1’26.8531’25.4871’25.3950.4132
54Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1’26.3771’25.5180.53611
616Charles LeclercFerrari1’26.8881’25.5991’25.5710.5893
755Carlos Sainz JnrFerrari1’25.9321’25.6050.6236
83Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes1’27.6191’26.1241’25.9500.9689
95Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes1’27.2681’26.3951’26.0121.03012
1031Esteban OconAlpine-Renault1’27.8911’26.0381’26.0731.0567
1114Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault1’26.0431’26.0761.0618
1223Alexander AlbonWilliams-Mercedes1’27.8401’26.7501’26.0511.06916
1322Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Red Bull1’27.9911’26.6801’26.1701.18815
1477Valtteri BottasAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’27.6551’26.3001’26.1891.20710
1510Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Red Bull1’27.8451’27.0361’26.2391.25719
1618Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes1’26.5471’26.2981.31614
1720Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’28.1421’26.9151’26.3561.37418
1847Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari1’26.8391’26.4731.49117
1924Zhou GuanyuAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’26.4791’26.4821.49713
206Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes1’27.2621’26.6461.66421
2136Liam LawsonRed Bull1’27.2012.21920
2239Robert ShwartzmanFerrari1’27.4292.44722
2388Robert KubicaAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’28.0643.08223
2445Logan SargeantWilliams-Mercedes1’28.0983.11624
2551Pietro FittipaldiHaas-Ferrari1’28.2043.22225
2628Pato O’WardMcLaren-Mercedes1’28.3503.36826
2782Jack DoohanAlpine-Renault1’28.4843.50227
2834Felipe DrugovichAston Martin-Mercedes1’28.6723.69028

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2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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4 comments on “Perez heads Red Bull one-two over Mercedes in final Abu Dhabi practice”

  1. @Alex Lima

    To answer your question from yesterday, this is why people say the RedBull is quick…

  2. I like Sergio Perez when he’s angry! I hope he’s able to make a statement in the race.

    1. controversal but i want perez to not get second place in the standings so he has that fire in his belly all of next year.

  3. Max already helping checo (-;

Comments are closed.