Abu Dhabi – EL3: McLaren confirms before qualifying, Haas shows again

After this third free practice session, the hierarchy seems very clear: McLaren and the rest. Friday night reference, the English team did it again during these EL3 with a new double, Oscar piastri ahead of his teammate Lando Norris.

In a session where the pace accelerated with many fast laps on soft tires, the MCL38s confirmed the trend and left no chance to the competition. The gaps testify to this clear advantage of Zak Brown's troops since Lewis Hamilton, third on the timesheet, finished 0 seconds behind Oscar Piastri's reference (390'1).

Behind and not really confident with his RB20 with a 17th time at the end of EL2 on Friday evening, Max Verstappen appeared more comfortable this Saturday late morning in Abu Dhabi. The Dutchman, who wanted to find more balance, was able to get closer to the top of the table with the 4th time just over 4 tenths behind the Australian. With a qualifying session held at night and a better understanding of the car, the four-time world champion can still hope to get closer even if he has no hope of competing with the McLarens. Carlos Sainz completed the Top 5 of these EL3.

On the side of Haas, the feelings are still good. Already in good shape on Friday, Nico Hulkenberg et Kevin Magnussen have again invited themselves into the Top 10 with the 7th and 8th fastest times. A good omen, no doubt, for the qualifications while the team led by Ayao Komatsu is hunting Alpine, currently 6th in the Constructors' standings with a 5-point lead. The French team appeared a little further behind its direct rivals with Pierre Gasly 13th and Jack Doohan 14th. Good news for the latter who finished less than a tenth behind his teammate.

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