Title chaser turns tables after finding time ahead of qualifying
Tuesday 25 November 2014 17:36, UK
Nico Rosberg turned the tables on title rival Lewis Hamilton in third practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by setting the fastest time.
Hamilton, who leads his fellow Mercedes driver by 17 points heading into F1’s first double points decider, was fastest in both of Friday’s practice sessions.
However, Rosberg’s lap of 1:41.424s around the 5.554km Yas Marina circuit on Saturday put him 0.369s ahead of Hamilton.
Speaking after P2, Rosberg said that he hadn’t been able to put his best lap together and needed to work hard to improve for the remainder of the weekend.
On the face of it, it looks as though his work is paying off, although with Hamilton setting the fastest first sector time of all in the closing seconds – he wasn’t able to finish the lap – it could be the case that the gap is closer to the margin - 0.083s - the Briton had enjoyed on Friday.
Felipe Massa was third fastest for Williams ahead of Fernando Alonso, who only ran during the first 20 minutes.
The Spaniard’s Ferrari had suffered electrical problems on Friday and he set the early pace after running both the soft and supersoft tyres.
Alonso then sat out the rest of the session, though, to give Ferrari’s mechanics enough time to change his car’s engine ahead of qualifying.
Sebastian Vettel was fifth fastest after Red Bull were forced to break the teams’ curfew overnight to fix a fuel leak on his car, while Jenson Button was sixth.
Like Alonso, Button’s Friday running had been curtailed with his McLaren suffering suspension and hydraulic problems.
Neither will the car run their new ‘Red Bull’ front wing. Team-mate Kevin Magnussen was ‘best of the rest’ behind the Silver Arrows on Friday but that time wasn’t actually set with the new wing.
The Dane ended P3 11th fastest behind Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari, with the top ten completed by Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Valtteri Bottas (Williams) and Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso).
Debutant Will Stevens was again slowest overall in 20th; however, the Briton again edged closer to Caterham team-mate Kamui Kobayashi, the gap this time about 0.9s.
