Lewis Hamilton has topped second practice at the Yas Marina Circuit. It was close between the two championship rivals, with Hamilton only 0.079 seconds faster than Nico Rosberg.
With the most relatable track conditions to race day, FP2 is relatively important to the teams for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Comparing to the first practice session the pace was a lot closer. The top 10 in the evening session were covered by 1.407 seconds instead of the first practice’s deficit of 2.299 seconds.
The focus was on long runs for today’s final practice session. Hamilton started the session complaining about the balance of the tyres and placing his Mercedes 21st. It was Ferrari who held the early pace, with Kimi Raikkonen leading the field.
But when the fast laps on the ultrasoft tyres started being set, the Mercedes climbed back to where they were expected to be at the top of the timesheet.
Rosberg held fastest for a few laps until Hamilton set his fast lap of a 1m40.861s. This time would not be beaten but the time difference between the two Mercedes drivers hopefully indicate a close qualifying battle on Saturday.
With Rosberg only needing a podium to take the title, the real question is how hard will the German be willing to push, or will he settle for second to take the podium.
Sebastian Vettel finished faster than the Red Bull drivers for third, but his session did not finish at the chequered flag. A gearbox failure saw him forced to park up his Ferrari at the side of the track in the same place Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari stopping in a free practice session for the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen was once again faster than his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, with the Red Bull’s filling fourth and fifth. The pair were extremely close with a thousandth of a second splitting the two (Ricciardo was 0.001 seconds off of Verstappen’s time).
Kimi Raikkonen was fifth, with his fellow Finn finishing sixth behind him. The Force India duo, lead by Sergio Perez, split the Williams pair, with Felipe Massa rounding off the top 10.
After having started the session with his car up on the jacks, Jenson Button managed to get his McLaren up to P12 by the chequered flag. Only his teammate Alonso separated him from the top 10.
It was another torrid session for Toro Rosso as Daniil Kvyat had a repeat of his puncture from FP1. This time he was not so lucky and was speared off the track by the out-of-control Toro Rosso.
The Russian managed to limp his car back to the pits, but it ended the session for both him and teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso are investigating the failure and hoping to prevent any more reoccurrences for the rest of the weekend. The Toro Rosso pair only completed nine laps each.
