Lewis Hamilton set the pace in final practice in Abu Dhabi but this time McLaren did not have it all their own way.
With the sun blazing down on the Yas Marina circuit, McLaren’s Jenson Button proved to be the early pace-setter before losing out to Hamilton.
But, with more laps and rubber going down, it wasn’t long before the McLarens were overhauled.
Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Felipe Massa, Adrian Sutil and Nico Rosberg all took a turn at the front of the timesheets.
But in the final few minutes, Hamilton again came to the fore, posting a 1:38.976 to finish Practice Three in the P1 slot.
Vettel was second, 0.427s off the pace, with his team-mate Webber finishing in third place. SkySports
Jenson Button wasn’t able to match his team-mate’s pace on the soft tyres, but all-but lapped at the same pace as the Red Bulls in fourth place, while Fernando Alonso was again a couple of tenths further adrift in the lead Ferrari.
Felipe Massa was over 0.5s back behind Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg in seventh as both Force Indias again made the top 10, this time ahead of Michael Schumacher who early had a brief squabble over a corner with Hamilton. ITV
Bruno Senna was Renault’s leader this time in 11th, with 1m 41.509s, ahead of the inevitably conjoined Saubers of Kamui Kobayashi and Serio Perez on 1m 41.527s and 1m 41.566s, with Vitaly Petrov right in their ballpark on 1m 41.594s in the second Renault.
Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari slipped down the order in their Toro Rossos, taking 15th and 16th in 1m 41.622s and 1m 41.855s. Pastor Maldonado was 17th for Williams with 1m 42.025s, while team mate Rubens Barrichello had further technical problems and was 19th behind Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus. The Brazilian lapped in 1m 43.861s to the Finn’s 1m 43.409s.
Timo Glock and Tonio Liuzzi battled behind them, the German posting 1m 45.262s in his Virgin, the Italian 1m 45.302s in his HRT. Their team mates, Jerome D’Ambrosio and Daniel Ricciardo were close behind on 1m 45.509s and 1m 45.732s. Formula 1
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