Hamilton quickest in practice two
Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time of the second free practice session in Abu Dhabi on Friday
The McLaren driver raised hopes that he might be able to compete for victory on Sunday by outpacing both Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.
The Yas Marina circuit was two seconds faster than in the day's earlier session, with the times coming down as more rubber was laid on the track.
Alonso's Ferrari had been quickest after most of the runners had completed their first long runs on the harder tyre, but Hamilton took the top spot as all the frontrunners improved on the softer compound.
Sebastian Vettel was second behind Alonso early on and improved on the soft tyre to finish second to Hamilton. Alonso ended the 90-minute session third, with Mark Webber fourth.
There were few changes in the final minutes as both Red Bull and Ferrari were lapping on heavy fuel loads at the end.
Robert Kubica was best of the non-title contenders in fifth for Renault, ahead of Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Vitaly Petrov (Renault), Jenson Button (McLaren) and Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India).
Massa's session ended early though, when his Ferrari stopped out on track with 22 minutes remaining, due to a reported fuel problem.
Aside from a few more cars sliding off the slippery surface, the only other incident of note was Jaime Alguersuari spinning, but coming to no harm, at Turn 19 with half an hour to run.
Pos Driver Car Time Gap 1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m40.888s 2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m41.145s + 0.257s 3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m41.314s + 0.426s 4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m41.315s + 0.427s 5. Robert Kubica Renault 1m41.576s + 0.688s 6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m41.583s + 0.695s 7. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m42.096s + 1.208s 8. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m42.132s + 1.244s 9. Tonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1m42.203s + 1.315s 10. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m42.222s + 1.334s 11. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m42.246s + 1.358s 12. Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1m42.449s + 1.561s 13. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m42.535s + 1.647s 14. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m42.768s + 1.880s 15. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m42.914s + 2.026s 16. Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Ferrari 1m42.950s + 2.062s 17. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m43.128s + 2.240s 18. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m43.584s + 2.696s 19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1m45.180s + 4.292s 20. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m45.259s + 4.371s 21. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1m45.612s + 4.724s 22. Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1m46.053s + 5.165s 23. Christian Klien Hispania-Cosworth 1m47.210s + 6.322s 24. Bruno Senna Hispania-Cosworth 1m47.434s + 6.546s All timing unofficial
Share Or Save This Story
Hamilton keeps F1 Belgian GP fourth-place finish as mechanic escapes unhurt
Ferrari criticises "mega harsh" penalty for Hamilton in F1 Belgian GP
Why Leclerc’s battle of the brakes has left him trailing his Ferrari team-mate
How Estonia crowned Pajari as the WRC’s new flying Finn
What we can learn from Mercedes' floor after Russell's Belgian GP retirement
The important lesson Solberg put into practice in Estonia
Wolff admits Mercedes has most powerful F1 engine – and Red Bull agrees – as ADUO returns to spotlight
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments