Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez set the quickest time in the final practice session for the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating team-mate Max Verstappen by 1500ths of a second, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in third place.
Pérez, level on points with Charles Leclerc, is looking to claim second place in the Drivers’ Championship and the Mexican driver’s hopes look bright after a practice in which his Ferrari rival finished sixth.
The session, held in hot, sunny conditions not related to those the drivers will encounter is the twilight qualifying session, got off to a slow start with Leclerc setting a conservative early benchmark in the 1m27s before Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate George Russell appeared after 10 minutes. Hamilton took P1 with a lap of 1:26.040.
The rest of the field then began to filter out on track and the Alpine’s of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon split the Mercedes pair, while Leclerc got closest to Hamilton’s time, sitting half a tenth off the seven-time champion.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez went top with a 1:25.861 on mediums and then the session was red-flagged when Pierre Gasly suffered a puncture and debris from his AlphaTauri came to rest on the kerb in Turn 9.
Under the red flag, Hamilton passed both McLaren’s Lando Norris and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, with race control indicating that the matter would be investigated after the session.
When the session resumed, Verstappen emerged on softs and he slotted in third place behind Pérez as Hamilton claimed top spot with a lap of 1:25.824 on soft compound tyres.
Russell then went top with a lap of 1:25.395 but he was soon shuffled back by both Pérez and Hamilton.
And Perez’s lap of 1:24.982 proved enough to hold onto top spot until the end of the session. Verstappen completed another run but the best he could was to leapfrog Hamilton and claim second. Russell finished fourth with Norris in fifth place.
Ferrari duo Leclerc and Carlos Sainz split the McLarens, taking sixth and seventh ahead of Ricciardo. Ninth place went to Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, while Alex Albon finished in 10th place for Williams.
2022 FIA Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 1:24.982 15 223.713
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:25.134 0.152 15 223.313
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:25.222 0.240 20 223.083
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:25.395 0.413 15 222.631
5 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:25.518 0.536 16 222.311
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:25.571 0.589 24 222.173
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:25.605 0.623 23 222.085
8 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:25.950 0.968 18 221.193
9 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:26.012 1.030 13 221.034
10 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:26.051 1.069 16 220.934
11 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:26.073 1.091 17 220.877
12 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:26.076 1.094 18 220.869
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Red Bull 1:26.170 1.188 19 220.628
14 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:26.189 1.207 17 220.580
15 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Red Bull 1:26.239 1.257 12 220.452
16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:26.298 1.316 20 220.301
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:26.356 1.374 21 220.153
18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:26.473 1.491 19 219.855
19 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:26.482 1.500 17 219.833
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:26.646 1.664 14 219.416
