Lewis Hamilton adds another dismal chapter to his disastrous year with Ferrari with a significant skid, while Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, and Oscar Piastri hope to conclude 2025 with a championship celebration. The trio are closely matched in the final practice session, in which George Russell emerges as the fastest.
The three hours of practice are over, decisions have been made, and the moment of truth is approaching for Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, and Oscar Piastri, the three remaining championship contenders. Former world champion Nico Rosberg, like the rest of the world, is eagerly anticipating the continuation. “Nine years ago, I experienced the most beautiful moment of my racing life on this circuit,” says the German, who won his first and only world title in the desert after a thrilling showdown with Lewis Hamilton in 2016.
“I understand what Lando is going through now,” Rosberg explains in his role as an analyst for the British pay-TV channel Sky Sports. “It’s frightening because you’re so close to realizing your dream. You can practically see, feel, and smell the title. At the same time, you’re afraid of making a mistake that ruins everything. And then you have that gladiator breathing down your neck: the one person in the world you don’t want behind you: Max Verstappen. It’s an insane situation.”
The final practice session, as often happens, starts slowly. After a quarter of an hour, the track begins to fill up somewhat. Norris, last year’s winner in Abu Dhabi, is the first of the title contenders to push his car, and despite a far from perfect lap, he is immediately the fastest man. His time is one and a half seconds slower than yesterday’s in FP2 during the preliminary skirmishes and therefore does not stay on the board for long.
Max Verstappen tops the timesheet when Lewis Hamilton parks his car in the tire barrier at turn 9 halfway through the session. It illustrates his problems, and the rest of the field loses over ten precious training minutes as a result. In the final phase, Norris remains sloppy, making another steering error. Nevertheless, it earns him the best time, which was set by colleague Piastri just before. The Brit is in turn replaced by George Russell, who eventually finishes four-thousandths ahead of Norris, a tenth ahead of Verstappen, and just over 0.2 ahead of Piastri.
