World title leader ahead of Nico Rosberg in both sessions and lauds Mercedes W05 as "the best car" he's driven around Abu Dhabi
Monday 24 November 2014 15:19, UK
Lewis Hamilton has delivered the perfect riposte to title rival Nico Rosberg by topping both of Friday’s practice sessions at Abu Dhabi.
After the mind games of Thursday's press conference - when Rosberg, to the obvious incredulity of Jenson Button, dared to warn Hamilton to drive cleanly - it was playtime on the track for Hamilton on Friday as he claimed top spot in both sessions with apparent ease.
Not only was Hamilton quickest over a single flying lap, but the Englishman – who only needs to finish second to secure his second World Championship – was also noticeably faster than Rosberg on their race simulations.
It was the perfect start to the weekend for Hamilton after being beaten in every session in Brazil when race victor Rosberg narrowed his team-mate’s lead to just 17 points.
“It’s been a good Friday – it’s as it looks on the board,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. “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.
“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.
“I’ve just got to drive the way I usually drive. I just need to keep making the right steps.”
However, despite failing to outpace the man he needs to beat to have any chance of the title this weekend, Rosberg was anything but downbeat at the close of play on Friday. The German took heart from the small P2 gap to Hamilton given he feels he has plenty of room for improvement with his car.
"It’s going okay – not perfect," Rosberg told reporters.
"I haven’t managed to get all my laps together properly and that actually makes me very optimistic. I’m sure I’ll be able to get them together by the time I get to qualifying and fine-tune my car a little bit."
Certainly much of Rosberg's 'fine-tuning' appears likely to centre on his set-up for Sunday's race as Hamilton's advantage in the late P2 race simulations having been particularly pronounced.
While most drivers appeared to suffer rear-tyre degradation on the more brittle supersoft tyres, Hamilton insisted: "My supersoft tyres were lasting quite a long time actually.
“They [the team] said at the beginning of the run everyone’s were dropping off [in performance] massively very early on, and my tyres were not really a huge problem. I had some graining, but they are not that bad."
