Abu Dhabi, FP1: Hamilton edges Rosberg
As title-deciding Abu Dhabi GP weekend gets underway
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. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|
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 |