2025 F1 Abu Dhabi GP FP3 LIVE: Third and final free practice for F1 title contenders

With 15mins to go, our top five is Verstappen, Stroll, Bearman, Hamilton and Leclerc

Speaking of Red Bull, it will enter into a partnership with Ford to develop its engine - it remains to be seen how involved the American giant will be beyond paying checks, but it's another welcome return for one of F1's most stories marques

While we wait for the session to restart, let's look ahead again to 2026 and this time consider Aston Martin, which welcomes back Honda to the sport just five years after it left.

Honda has been in and out of F1 on numerous occasions - its most recent stint was defined in the early years by a slow and unreliable engine that famously led to a fall out with McLaren.

Red Bull took the risk of taking it under its wing in order to ditch its Renault engines and it worked a treat, winning the title together in 2021... just as Honda exited the sport.

Technically speaking, though Red Bull took engine development in house, Honda was still involved in the background, so it'll be interesting to see if it's full-scale return with Aston - where it will reunite with Adrian Newey - has an impact on Red Bull's pace

The Ferrari has been prone to some spins in recent rounds - Leclerc went around in São Paulo, Vegas (several times), in Qatar and on Friday in Abu Dhabi - but this time it is Hamilton and this time he found something hard to hit

It's a fast off for Hamilton, his Ferrari snapping round at the rear on the bumps.

Driver ok but another confidence-sapping incident for a driver who looks set to end the year without a podium to his name

We've covered Sauber and Alpine, but there is of course even more to come in 2026

While Audi enters F1 on the back of Sauber, there will be an entirely new 11th entrant coming in the form of Cadillac, which heralds General Motors' much anticipated move into F1.

Not too much is known about the entry - we know Perez and Bottas will return as drivers and Ferrari will supply the engines, but Cadillac, with exception to its moderately successful WEC programme, doesn't have much historical prestige in motorsport, compared to Audi.

Still, the anticipated black, gold and silver livery should look mint!

Verstappen powers round with three purple sectors to move to the top of the timesheets, while Stroll and Hamilton slot in just behind the Red Bull driver

Bearman - who was waxing lyrical about his Haas on the radio yesterday - gets closest to Norris, just eight thousandths of a second off the top spot.

1- Norris

2- Bearman

3- Leclerc

4- Tsunoda

5- Piastri

35mins of the session remaining

Norris goes quicker again, despite getting it a little bit loose on the exit of the final corner - he holds a near four-tenths lead over Tsunoda

Twenty minutes in and we're getting some lap times on the board now with Norris resuming his place atop the timesheets, followed by Tsunoda and Piastri. Only half of the field have put in fast laps so far though

In fact, amid all of the drama of the title fight, this season finale marks the end of an era for some and signals the start of others

For one,  everyone's favourite plucky privateer team Sauber returns to a dormant state as an independent entity as it prepares to morph into the eagerly-anticipated Audi works team.

F1 has been trying for decades to get the VW Group involved in the sport and in 2026 it will finally happen as the manufacturer that has previously dominated rallying, sports cars and touring cars at last gives the pinnacle of the sport a crack.

That's not to say the Swiss outfit - which has maintained a presence in F1 since 1993 in various guises, even during the BMW and Alfa years - will never return, but 2026 will be the first time the Sauber name won't be above the garage in 33 years

Not a lot of running going on out there, just a pair of Alpines ringing out across the circuit.

We best make the most of it as this weekend is the last time we'll hear the Renault engine in full song for the foreseeable future.

Alpine - which is, of course, Renault's sporting spin-off brand - is moving away from engine development in favour of a customer deal with Mercedes, which it hopes will have the McLaren effect and push them up the order in 2026.

It certainly needs something because Alpine is destined to be rooted to the bottom of the constructors' standings, while Franco Colapinto has just this one chance to get on the board having failed to score since being drafted in to replace Jack Doohan

Aston Martin break the initial silence to get out there first of all

The start of FP3 - held in sunny, warm conditions in Abu Dhabi - is just a couple of minutes away.

One hour of free running before we get into the business end of the weekend with qualifying and then, of course, tomorrow's all-important finale

In the constructors' reckoning, things are looking more clear cut than they were.

Mercedes is close to securing second overall, ahead of Red Bull, while Ferrari will almost certainly end up fourth as it faces up to a win-less season

Beyond the big three, there are still a few scores to settle elsewhere in the overall standings with Abu Dhabi the last chance now to get some personal scalps.

While Russell and Leclerc are sealed in fourth and fifth overall, Antonelli has moved just two points shy of Hamilton in the fight for sixth overall - the momentum is definitely with the Italian after a run of strong results, including podiums in two of the last three rounds.

Elsewhere, Williams look set to have both drivers inside the overall top ten after Sainz's brilliant run to third in Qatar, but just three points cover Hadjar, Hulkenberg and Alonso in the fight for tenth.

At least it was a good start to proceedings on Friday for Norris, who set the quickest time in both FP1 and FP2, but Verstappen was right on his tail.

It was hard to gauge whether Piastri was also in the leading mix after skipping FP1 to sacrifice his seat for a rookie - in this case, Pato O'Ward - before having his time attack hampered in FP2. 

FP3 will provide a better glimpse of the leading contenders heading into qualifying later today

This is how the the points' standings stack up for the top three:

1- Norris - 408 points

2- Verstappen - 396 points

3- Piastri - 392 points

Perhaps the easiest equation to look out for is Norris needs a podium finish to secure the title, regardless of who wins the race.

Any lower than third and it gets a little more complex with the potential for this year's title to be decided on count back. If it does, it is worth mentioning now that all three drivers have seven wins each, so it really couldn't get tighter between the trio

Little more than a week on from a controversial Qatar GP that saw Verstappen nab a pivotal victory from right under the nose of McLaren, there has been a flurry of mathematics to figure who needs what to walk away with motorsport's biggest crown