Lewis Hamilton crashes as George Russell keeps title favourite Lando Norris off the top in final practice
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Stewards retrieving the car of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton after his crash during practice.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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- George Russell topped final practice, narrowly beating Lando Norris, who leads the championship by 12 points. Norris must finish top three on Sunday to win.
- Lewis Hamilton crashed his Ferrari, causing red flags. He reported over the radio that "something buckled at the front and snapped the rear".
- Yuki Tsunoda was involved in two incidents: Norris swerved to avoid his dawdling Red Bull, and he collided with Mercedes's Kimi Antonelli in the pitlane.
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ABU DHABI - Lewis Hamilton crashed his Ferrari in the final practice session of the Formula One season in Abu Dhabi on Dec 6, with Mercedes’ George Russell denying McLaren’s championship leader Lando Norris a sweep of fastest times.
Russell was 0.004 quicker than his fellow Briton, who dominated on Dec 5 at Yas Marina and was still the fastest title contender.
Norris leads Red Bull’s four-times world champion Max Verstappen by 12 points with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri a further four adrift.
If 26-year-old Norris finishes in the top three on Dec 7, he will be champion, but a fast Mercedes in the mix could complicate matters.
Verstappen was third, 0.124 off the pace, while Piastri was fifth fastest and behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Seven-times champion Hamilton brought out red flags when he spun at turn nine before spearing into the tyre wall halfway through the session.
“Something buckled at the front and snapped the rear,” the Briton, yet to stand on the podium since joining Ferrari from Mercedes in January, said over team radio.
There had been drama already, with Norris having to swerve to avoid a dawdling Red Bull driven by Yuki Tsunoda and the Japanese then caught up in a pitlane collision with Mercedes’s Kimi Antonelli and both cars suffering damage.
Mercedes released the Italian rookie from the garage straight into Tsunoda’s path, with stewards investigating.
“You told me yes and Tsunoda was coming,” exclaimed Antonelli.
Verstappen was also complaining about his car jumping. “I can’t keep my feet on the pedals,” he said over the radio. REUTERS
