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Formula 1
Abu Dhabi GP
2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Friday - Practice
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Rosberg, Maldonado and Fong are all circulating now as well in a bid for a bit more data late in the session.
Caterham asks Steven to try to bring tyre temperatures up more.
Stevens emerges! Hamilton and Vettel back out as well.
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Button has time to Tweet: "Great to see Mercedes have got a lot of competition here in Abu Dhabi! 1.7second gap!"
As Kvyat is left on his own, let's have a look at laps completed. Aside from Stevens on one, Massa (7), Bottas (8) and Button (8) have had muted sessions.
Ocon's been the busiest, with 22 laps completed.
Ocon's been the busiest, with 22 laps completed.
And then Alonso emerges again. Magnussen's in though.
And, of course, Alonso pits.
Track action dies right down, with Alonso, Kvyat and Magnussen the only drivers on circuit.
Alonso puts in a better lap (1m45.184s) but he's still some way behind the Mercedes. The title protagonists have been out of reach in FP1.
And the bottom half:
11 Magnussen
12 Raikkonen
13 Massa
14 Maldonado
15 Gutierrez
16 Ocon
17 Button
18 Kobayashi
19 Fong
20 Stevens
11 Magnussen
12 Raikkonen
13 Massa
14 Maldonado
15 Gutierrez
16 Ocon
17 Button
18 Kobayashi
19 Fong
20 Stevens
We're into the final half an hour so this is where we stand:
1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Alonso
4 Vettel
5 Ricciardo
6 Vergne
7 Kvyat
8 Bottas
9 Perez
10 Hulkenberg
1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Alonso
4 Vettel
5 Ricciardo
6 Vergne
7 Kvyat
8 Bottas
9 Perez
10 Hulkenberg
The race control computer reports a trip over the run-off and a missed apex for Ocon as he pushes the Lotus harder.
Stopwatch
Hamilton takes back top spot with a 1m43.476s, while Rosberg can't improve.
Alonso can, he goes third on a 1m45.184s.
Alonso can, he goes third on a 1m45.184s.
Rosberg's green in the first sector but Hamilton's not taken kindly to being usurped – he's purple in the opening part of the lap.
Even closer is Alonso's advantage over Raikkonen. The outgoing Ferrari driver goes 10th with a time 0.001s faster than his team-mate.
Perez demotes his team-mate, having gone 0.047s quicker.
Hulkenberg pops up to seventh in the Force India, 2.3s slower than Rosberg's best.
Hamilton did fractionally improve his time with the best final sector, but only to a 1m43.722s.
Stopwatch
Rosberg can! He goes back on top on a 1m43.609s, a tenth quicker than Hamilton.
Green sectors for Rosberg, can he make this count? Raikkonen's into the top 10 in ninth now.
Maldonado saves a touch of face by going quicker than Ocon, but less than a tenth separates the race winner in 13th and the rookie in 15th.
Vettel felt Magnussen's driving was worth a hand wave of incredulity.
Vettel and Magnussen do some minor wheel-banging in a chicane as Magnussen appears not to notice the faster Red Bull coming through.
Magnussen's up to seventh now. His McLaren team-mate Button is 16th and in the pits.
No overall laptime improvement for either Mercedes, but Ocon jumps to 12th – a 1m47.066s from the Euro F3 champion.
Quite a few cars undergoing major attention in the pits right now: the Williams, Hulkenberg, Button and Stevens all sidelined at present.
Slow laps done, it's back to business for Rosberg and Hamilton – both improve in the first sector.
Following Caterham's return to action, the FIA stewards met today and have announced some tweaks to the qualifying format:
F1 qualifying tweaked again after Caterham return
F1 qualifying tweaked again after Caterham return
Raikkonen's made unspectacular progress up the times, and is just outside the top 10. The Finn's 11th on a 1m46.922s.
Stopwatch
Rosberg lowers his benchmark to 1m44.199s but Hamilton beats that emphatically with a 1m43.799s.
Magnussen improves again to go ninth, as Rosberg and Hamilton are both set to go quicker. It's the Briton who is charging most.
Toro Rosso tells Kvyat his tyre temperatures are on the high side. He says he'd noticed.
Magnussen's on the screen now in 10th and going even quicker. Ocon, down in 17th, is edging closer to Maldonado's time.
Better from Vettel, who improves and goes third fastest as Vergne goes purple in sector two!
Quote
"We can push more on the tyres, both front and rear," Sauber tells Gutierrez.
Good lap from Kvyat, who goes fourth in the second Toro Rosso – 1m45.987s for the young Russian.
Out come the Mercs and Kimi Raikkonen, whose Ferrari we've seen very little of so far.
Vergne shoots to fifth, ahead of Vettel, on a 1m46.276s.
Plenty of attention on the sidepod bodywork at Williams as it attends to whatever caused the section to fly off.
By: AUTOSPORT staff, Scott Mitchell, Pablo Elizalde
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