Abu Dhabi GP: Russell tops frantic final practice – Hamilton crashes.
George Russell snatched the top spot in a frantic final practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating championship leader Lando Norris by just 0.004s as Max Verstappen settled for third.
06/12/2025
Michael Delaney
F1i.com

FP3 delivered everything from traffic chaos to a red flag and late-session time attacks – the perfect warm-up for Sunday’s title showdown. Norris, Verstappen and Oscar Piastri all enter the finale with a mathematical shot at the crown, though the McLaren driver holds a 12-point lead over Verstappen and 16 over his team-mate.

Red Flag Chaos and Final Flurry. Just as the session reached full intensity, Lewis Hamilton brought everything to a halt. The Ferrari driver spun into the Turn 9 barrier with 29 minutes remaining and reported that “something buckled at the front and snapped the rear” as he hit the apex.

Verstappen lit the fuse with a 1m24.116s once running resumed, but Piastri immediately reset the bar with a lap half a second quicker. Norris then outdid his team-mate by another quarter of a second, thanks largely to a scorching final sector. Drama unfolded in the pitlane too, as Mercedes released Andrea Kimi Antonelli directly into Tsunoda, ending the RB driver’s session on the spot.

‘George Russell snatched the top spot’;

https://f1i.com/news/555563-abu-dhab...n-crashes.html


Abu Dhabi GP: Free Practice 3 Results
Full results from Free Practice 3 for the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
6 Dec 2025
Ben Waterworth
Speedcafe

Pos. No. Driver Team Time / Gap Laps
1 63 George Russell Mercedes 1:23.334 14
2 4 Lando Norris McLaren +0.004s 20
3 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.124s 15
4 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.251s 17
5 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.259s 17
6 31 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +0.271s 19
7 87 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team +0.275s 16
8 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.341s 18
9 12 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.373s 14
10 23 Alexander Albon Williams +0.388s 18

‘Free Practice 3 Results’;

https://speedcafe.com/f1-news-2025-a...3-fp3-results/


Nico Rosberg has heard ‘some voices’ suggesting McLaren want Lando Norris to win the F1 title
6 December 2025
Kyle Archer
F1 Oversteer

Nico Rosberg warns Oscar Piastri that it ‘won’t help’ to dwell on McLaren prioritising Lando Norris.

McLaren had opposed team orders through the first 23/24 rounds of the 2025 F1 season, as Brown and team principal Andrea Stella wanted to give Norris and Piastri an equal chance to win the title. But McLaren have faced accusations that they have prioritised Norris this term. There has been much speculation in the F1 paddock that McLaren favour Norris over Piastri over the course of 2025. Nico Rosberg also now claims that he has “heard” ahead of the Abu Dhabi GP that “everybody” at McLaren is almost rooting to see Norris claim the drivers’ title.

“For Oscar, it is a very tough situation,” Rosberg told Sky Sports News (6/12, 09:12). “He was the leader throughout most of the championship and looked like the dominant force, and then Lando has come back. It’s also a British team, and you sense that, I’m sure, without knowing exactly, but I heard some voices like Mark Webber being there and being the only Australian, and everybody is kind of a little bit towards favouring Lando as a world champion.

‘Rooting to see Norris claim the drivers’ title’;

https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/nic...-the-f1-title/


Max P3 in third free practice of Abu Dhabi
06 December 2025
Florence Cobben
Verstappen.nl

With a quarter of an hour to go, the session is resumed. The pit lane is crowded as many drivers jockey to get onto the track. Max also heads out on a new set of soft tyres. He improves his time to a 1:24.116, but quickly has to relinquish his hold on first place to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the McLarens, who are about half a second faster than the Dutchman.

Max returns to the pits, and heads out on a new set of soft tyres. He improves his time to a 1:23.514, placing him third behind George Russell and Lando Norris. In the pit lane, Kimi Antonelli is released straight into the path of Yuki Tsunoda, causing the two to make contact and sustain damage.

At the fall of the flag marking the end of the session, Max improves his time (1:23.458) but stays in P3. He is just 0.124 seconds slower than George Russel, while Lando Norris has a gap of four-thousandths of a second to P1. Fernando Alonso comes fourth, and the third championship contender, Oscar Piastri, finished P5.

‘Max P3’;

https://news.verstappen.com/en/article/6044/


Nico Rosberg brutally mocks Lewis Hamilton straight after Abu Dhabi Grand Prix crash
6 December 2025
David Comerford
F1 Oversteer

Nico Rosberg saw Lewis Hamilton trying to put his Ferrari ‘in reverse’ after crash. As the world feed cut to Hamilton’s onboard camera, Nico Rosberg saw his former teammate trying to select reverse as if he could get going again. That prompted a brutal reaction.

“Crofty, he’s trying to put it in reverse, should we tell him he’s missing a tyre?” he quipped. Hamilton suggested over the radio that the accident was due to a mechanical issue rather than a driver error: “Something buckled at the front and snapped the rear.”

Rosberg thought the SF-25 was unsettled by striking the ground as Hamilton entered the left-hander. “It starts on the entry already,” he observed. “It starts with bottoming as he was turning in. That already loosened up the rear, and then it just had a follow-on effect. He’s already loose right at the beginning. He thinks something broke.”

‘He’s missing a tyre’;

https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/nic...nd-prix-crash/