Briton fastest by narrow margin again from Rosberg; Briton tops a session for 62nd time in 2014; Just two laps for Alonso after failure
Monday 24 November 2014 15:19, UK
Lewis Hamilton's bid to close out the 2014 World Championship in the 'Abu Double' decider has started in textbook fashion after the Briton doubled up on fastest practice times on Friday.
The Mercedes driver, who needs to finish second in Sunday’s race to be sure of seeing off team-mate Nico Rosberg’s challenge, had already set the pace from the German by one tenth of a second in P1 before enjoying a similarly slim margin of superiority in P2.
With the early-evening, floodlit session at Abu Dhabi's plush Yas Marina circuit taking place at the same time of day as the weekend’s all-important qualifying session and race, it was Rosberg who initially held a big margin of superiority as he outpaced Hamilton by 0.7s on the soft tyres.
However, trading times when the field later switched to the far quicker supersoft compound, it was Hamilton who emerged on top with a benchmark lap of 1:42.113 which was a mere 0.083 seconds quicker than his title rival could manage.
Hamilton's Friday double represented an immediate turnaround from two weeks ago in Brazil, when it was Rosberg who topped every session before winning the race to close his team-mate's advantage to 17 points. The Briton too will be buoyed by the fact he also had the edge on the race simulations in the closing stages of P2.
"It’s been a good Friday – it’s as it looks on the board. I got the long run and the whole session, which was great, and made good steps with the set-up. But as always there’s still more time to find,” Hamilton told Sky Sports News HQ.
"It’s exactly the same programme as every other race weekend, we’re just chipping away it and trying to improve. It’s the best car I have ever driven here and it’s pretty spectacular.”
As in P1, Mercedes’ duelling duo enjoyed a large speed advantage over the would-be challengers – although, as has been the trend all season, the W05's margin did shrink slightly on the red-marked supersofts. However, it was something of a moot point: Hamilton and Rosberg were still 0.7s quicker than anyone else around the 5.6km desert venue.
The closest challenger was actually McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen with the Dane, running front-wing upgrades on his MP4-29 on Friday, just under a tenth quicker than outgoing World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who proved to be the quicker of the two Red Bulls in practice on his final race weekend appearance for the team.
Fernando Alonso, who will be replaced by Vettel at Ferrari, had run as high as third in the morning but his final Friday in red ultimately proved forgettable as his F14 T ground to a halt after just two laps in P2.
Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz reported that an electrical fault inside the car - which was emanating smoke from the rear when Alonso stopped on track - had triggered a gearbox failure. Alonso wasn’t able to return to the session, meaning he will go into the weekend without any race simulation runs under his belt.
The final Friday of the season had seemingly been going a similarly depressing way for Jenson Button, the man who Alonso will either partner or directly replace at McLaren, after a suspension problem which kept him on the sidelines for most of P1 was followed by the discovery of a separate hydraulics issue.
However, after swift repair work from his McLaren crew, Button was able to return to the track for the final hour of running. He ended up eighth fastest, a second adrift of Magnussen.
Williams, meanwhile, enjoyed a more competitive P2 after a double engine cover failure in P1: Valtteri Bottas wound up fifth fastest ahead of the second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Toro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyat and Interlagos podium finisher Felipe Massa completed the top ten, shutting out the Force Indias.
While the sidelined Alonso propped up the timesheet, Caterham debutant Will Stevens continued to get to grips with the returning team’s CT05, the Britain completing 34 more laps and ending up 1.5 seconds slower than team-mate Kamui Kobayashi, halving his initial deficit from P1.
