Lewis Hamilton may be the rank outsider in this year’s four-way world championship showdown but the McLaren star signalled his intent on Friday by setting the fastest time in practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The 2008 champion stands 24 points adrift of Fernando Alonso in this season’s drivers’ standings and although Hamilton said he needed a “miracle” after last weekend’s race in Brazil, he is clearly determined to fight until the very last lap at the Yas Marina circuit.
Hamilton, who took pole position for last year’s race and led the first 19 laps before brake problems intervened, set a time of one minute 40.888seconds around the 5.554-km track to go 0.257secs clear of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.
Investigation
However, Hamilton faces an investigation by the stewards after an incident with Bruno Senna in which he appeared to chop across the Hispania driver.
On a hot lap, Hamilton was forced to run wide around the final corner as a slowing Senna had eased off near the entrance to the pit lane.
In an apparent fit of pique, Hamilton then instantly dived in front of the Brazilian and into the pit lane, a manoeuvre the stewards are to take another look at.
Vettel, who led the way in the opening 90-minute session, in turn finished ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber as the four title contenders occupied the top four places on the timesheets.
Alonso finished 0.426secs off Hamilton and just a thousandth of a second ahead of Webber, over whom he holds an eight-point lead in the drivers’ standings. Vettel stands third overall, seven points further back.
With 23 minutes remaining in the session, the sight of a Ferrari crawling to a halt on the track raised the possibility that Alonso – whose car is using the eighth and last engine allowed per season under F1 rules – had suffered a setback.
However, it was in fact team-mate Felipe Massa who had pulled over with a fuel problem, the Brazilian nevertheless ending the session sixth fastest behind Renault’s Robert Kubica.
Massa sandwiched the Renaults as Vitaly Petrov was seventh, 1.2secs down, with Jenson Button a lowly eighth as he again struggled with brake issues.
Guinea pig
It is understood, however, that the outgoing world champion is serving as a guinea pig for a new system McLaren are developing for next season.
Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi was in eighth, followed by Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, with Senna at the back of the field, 6.5secs behind Hamilton.
Friday’s second session took place in twilight – the same conditions drivers will experience for both qualifying and the race.
Times
1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1min 40.888secs
2. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull – Renault 1:41.145
3. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1:41.314
4. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull – Renault 1:41.315
5. Robert Kubica (Poland) Renault 1:41.576
6. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:41.583
7. Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 1:42.096
8. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1:42.132
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Force India-Mercedes 1:42.203
10 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:42.222
11. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes 1:42.246
12. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Williams – Cosworth 1:42.449
13. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India-Mercedes 1:42.535
14. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) BMW Sauber – Ferrari 1:42.768
15. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Williams – Cosworth 1:42.914
16. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber – Ferrari 1:42.950
17. Jaime Alguersuari (Spain) Toro Rosso – Ferrari 1:43.128
18. Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso – Ferrari 1:43.584
19. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Lotus – Cosworth 1:45.180
20. Timo Glock (Germany) Virgin – Cosworth 1:45.259
21. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Lotus – Cosworth 1:45.612
22. Lucas Di Grassi (Brazil) Virgin – Cosworth 1:46.053
23. Christian Klien (Austria) HRT – Cosworth 1:47.210
24. Bruno Senna (Brazil) HRT – Cosworth 1:47.434
