ABU DHABI GP – Lewis Hamilton fastest by three and a half tenths in second practice
Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the second practice ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after going just under three and a half tenth faster than Esteban Ocon. The Mercedes driver set a 23.691 with the car looking to perform better in the twilight conditions.
Hamilton had been behind his championship rival Max Verstappen was fourth six tenths off the pace following the qualifying simulation on soft tyres. Valtteri Bottas was third finishing session almost four-tenths off the pace, and three and a half tenths ahead of Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez.
Verstappen was six tenths off the outright pace set by his championship rival Hamilton going into the winner takes all race. Red Bull looking to be on the back foot as Mercedes looks to have a half-second advantage on a one-lap pace, but the duo were within a tenth of each other.
This is the largest deficit in terms of pace between Mercedes and Red Bull, going into Sunday’s title decider, but Red Bull could be encouraged that Verstappen and Perez were within a tenth of each other. That could create a close battle for pole position between the top teams.
This appears to be the biggest gap, six tenths, between Hamilton and Verstappen this season. However Yas Marina has been dominated by Mercedes since the beginning of the hybrid era, and Hamilton will be looking to do everything he can to take his eighth championship.
Mercedes appears to hold the advantage in sectors one and two, where straight-line speed is the advantage but Red Bull are faster around the harbour section. This could make the race one about strategy and were the championship could be decided by accidents or mistakes.
While Verstappen admitted Red Bull were still “learning and understanding” and had things to clean up, his team pointed to the pace at the end of Practice Two as a huge source of encouragement. On the ‘race runs’ which are vital for Sunday’s 58 laps, Verstappen was much faster than Hamilton with high fuel.
Verstappen said, “Of course clearly the short run didn’t go to plan, lacking a bit of pace. But I think the long runs were quite a bit more competitive.”
Hamilton added, “Still a bit of a bit of unknown in terms of pace but I’m sure it’s going to be super close.”
While Red Bull are behind Mercedes there could be an encouragement in tactics as Verstappen’s teammate Perez, was within a tenth.
Fernando Alonso appeared to have similar pace to Ocon but was sixth after having his fastest time deleted for exceeding track limits, which put him nearly four hundredths ahead of the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda. The two-time champion looked to have good pace.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was another hundredth behind after beating his teammate Carlos Sainz by just under a tenth, while Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten. McLaren appears to have slipped back a bit in their battle with Ferrari, Daniel Ricciardo just under two hundredths behind.
Antonio Giovinazzi split the two McLaren’s after going four hundredths of a second faster than Lando Norris. Meanwhile Giovinazzi’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen, going into his final race weekend, lost the rear of the car smashing into the barriers at the end of the session.
Sebastian Vettel was fourteenth going almost two tenths faster than his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll. Behind Raikkonen were the Williams with George Russell a tenth ahead of his teammate Nicolas Latifi, with Mick Schumacher half a second faster than his Haas teammate Nikita Mazepin.