LEWIS Hamilton moved to the top of the order in second practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after trading blows with Sebastian Vettel at the final round of the season.
Hamilton finished behind Vettel in the day’s first running at the Yas Marina circuit after the Ferrari driver picked up where he left off following his victory in Brazil a fortnight ago.
But it was world champion Hamilton’s turn to edge out Vettel in the evening session as he bids to end his title-winning campaign with a bang.
Under the floodlights, Hamilton clocked a best effort of one minute and 37.877 to finish clear of Vettel with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo third in the order.
“It’s been a good Friday, but I’m happy that it’s the last one of the season,” said Hamilton, who clinched his fourth championship in Mexico last month. “We got lots of laps in today and made good progress with the balance of the car.
“We have a bit of work to do, but I feel like we’re quite competitive here. It’s relatively close still, but I like that.”
Vettel – who needs to finish only eighth here in the desert to seal the runner-up spot in this year’s championship – and Hamilton have both won on three occasions in Abu Dhabi, and both started from pole position three times, too.
And on the basis of yesterday’s evidence at least, the pair, who went toe-to-toe for the title only for Vettel’s challenge to implode in the second half of the campaign, look set to dominate here once more.
Hamilton finished 0.139 seconds ahead of Vettel with Ricciardo three tenths further back. Kimi Raikkonen was fourth for Ferrari ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen sixth. Bottas must record an unlikely victory on Sunday to stand any chance of beating Vettel to second spot in the championship.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here