Abu Dhabi, FP1: Hamilton edges Rosberg

As title-deciding Abu Dhabi GP weekend gets underway

By Franck Drui

25 November 2016 - 11:35
Abu Dhabi, FP1: Hamilton edges Rosberg

Lewis Hamilton outpaced team-mate Nico Rosberg by almost four tenths of a second in first practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as the pair’s title-deciding duel got underway at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Hamilton goes into the final race of the 2016 season needing to reverse a 12-point deficit to Rosberg in order to take a fourth career title and the defending champion set about the task in the right way by settting a session-best time of 1:42.869 to finish 0.374s clear of his Mercedes team-mate and sole title rival.

Should Hamilton win a fourth race in succession on Sunday, Rosberg still needs only to finish third to be crowned champion and after FP1 he might be casting a nervous glance over his shoulder at ever-improving Red Bull Racing.

In the early afternoon session in Abu Dhabi, Max Verstappen, fresh from an outstanding drive to third place in Brazil, ended the 90 minutes in P3, just five hundredths of a second behind Rosberg. Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull was just over a tenth behind the German.

Fifth place in the session went to Sebastian Vettel, though the Ferrari driver finished some seven tenths of a second behind the quickest Red Bull and more than 1.1s adrfit of Hamilton.

Vettel’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was seventh quickest, half a second back from the German and the Ferraris were split by Force India’s Sergio Perez, who set a lap of 1:44.155.

Carlos Sainz was eighth–fastest, the Toro Rosso driver setting a best time of 1:44.685. That left him three tenths clear of Williams’ Felipe Massa who is set to make his 205th and final grand prix start this weekend. Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top 10 order.

Elsewhere, it was a difficult session for Haas’ Romain Grosjean with the French driver complaining about the unpredictability of his car under braking. The problems eventually led to a spin at Turn One.

McLaren’s Jenson Button, who is also set for a final grand prix before a sabbatical at the end of this season, also had a tough opening session. The Briton finished in P20 and managed just 10 laps.

Pos.DriverTeamTimeLaps
01 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:42.869 28
02 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1:43.243 31
03 Max Verstappen Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:43.297 26
04 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:43.362 27
05 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:44.005 27
06 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:44.155 23
07 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:44.556 27
08 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:44.685 21
09 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:45.039 27
10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:45.168 20
11 Alfonso Celis Force India Mercedes 1:45.476 26
12 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:45.600 13
13 Felipe Nasr Sauber Ferrari 1:45.778 17
14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas Ferrari 1:45.925 20
15 Valtteri Bottas Williams Mercedes 1:45.940 31
16 Jolyon Palmer Renault F1 1:46.219 33
17 Kevin Magnussen Renault F1 1:46.372 21
18 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:46.379 21
19 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Mercedes 1:46.458 29
20 Jenson Button McLaren Honda 1:47.127 10
21 Jordan King Manor Mercedes 1:47.558 27
22 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Ferrari 2:01.989 4

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