Hamilton tops final practice at Abu Dhabi

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina Circuitae

Lewis Hamilton went quickest in the final practice session for the Abu Dhabi GP, topping his teammate Jenson Button on the timesheet. The fastest man from yesterday, Sebastian Vettel was third after being stuck in the garage for most of the session with technical issues.

The beginning of the session was fairly quiet, with only Kamui Kobayashi setting an actual time during the first 15 minutes. After completing a few laps, his team mate joined the action, along with a pack of other drivers. It took however until the 25th minute until Lewis Hamilton set the first competitive time, going around the yas marina track in 1:42.148.

Sebastian Vettel meanwhile also went out but returned quickly to the pits to have his car checked. Initial reports mentioned braking issues, but with the crew member later checking out the bottom of the car, more is likely interest as well.

15 minutes from the end, Hamilton's time was still standing, ahead of Button, Grosjean, Maldonado, Webber, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Rosberg, Massa and Di Resta. Sebastian Vettel was still stuck in the pits with car problems.

The final 7 minutes were again dominated by drivers opting to do a qualifying run on the softer Pirelli tyres. Hamilton was again first to improve, completing only a single flying lap on the tyres. Vettel at the same time went out for a run and did 2 flying laps, ending up third quickest.

Results

Pos.No.DriverTeamTimeGapLaps
14Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1:42.130-18
23Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1:42.4200.29017
31Sebastian VettelRed Bull Racing-Renault1:42.6140.4847
42Mark WebberRed Bull Racing-Renault1:42.7430.61318
512Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1:42.7500.62019
610Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1:43.0150.88518
718Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1:43.0640.93419
85Fernando AlonsoFerrari1:43.1331.00315
99Kimi RäikkönenLotus-Renault1:43.1841.05422
1011Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1:43.3381.20819
116Felipe MassaFerrari1:43.4801.35017
1215Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1:43.5711.44120
138Nico RosbergMercedes1:43.5931.46320
147Michael SchumacherMercedes1:43.6351.50519
1514Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1:44.0101.88022
1617Jean-Eric VergneStr-Ferrari1:44.0251.89518
1719Bruno SennaWilliams-Renault1:44.0711.94119
1816Daniel RicciardoStr-Ferrari1:44.1492.01919
1920Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault1:45.3013.17122
2024Timo GlockMarussia-Cosworth1:45.8793.74919
2125Charles PicMarussia-Cosworth1:46.0363.90619
2221Vitaly PetrovCaterham-Renault1:46.2614.13122
2322Pedro de la RosaHrt-Cosworth1:46.5544.42420
2423Narain KarthikeyanHrt-Cosworth1:47.0324.90222