Formula One Highlights: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, P2
Welcome back to the final Friday practice session highlights of the 2010 season.
Vettel was the quickest driver in the morning outing as the two Red Bulls sandwiched the two McLarens as both teams occupied the first four slots. Hamilton had the faster time in the Woking-based team. Title leader Alonso was in sixth.
The first session was disrupted due to a damp track as rain had fallen prior to the start in the desert country! Second practice was set to be a clearer indicator of who goes where.
The one and a half hour session kicked off. Kovalainen was back in his Lotus replacing Fauzy from first practice. The drivers were out on track for their installation laps.
The Red Bulls took a backseat at the start. While both the Ferraris and McLarens were out, the constructor’s champions were still to set a time. This meant that for the time being, it was basically a battle between the Italian based Ferrari and the British
based McLarens.
Robert Kubica on the other hand, was the only driver still waiting in the pits. The Renault driver was subsequently, yet to conduct an installation lap. However, by the time the Polish driver set out on track, the rest of the field had done a lap apiece.
Half an hour on the clock saw Fernando Alonso leading from Lewis Hamilton. Mark Webber was the fastest Red Bull driver in 4th spot.
Half-way through the session still confirmed Alonso clinging on to the top spot. Webber further improved on his lap time and was 2nd, ahead of Hamilton.
Interestingly, of all the 24 cars on track, Nick Heidfeld had done the most number of laps so far – 20.
Alguersuari spun and stopped on the track which led to the first yellow flags of the weekend. However, that wasn’t the first as the same color was raised as Felipe Massa stopped on the track. His session was over. The Brazilian was 6th fastest in the session
after doing 21 laps. However, those that thought that it was a technical issue were rather relieved as the Ferrari driver confirmed before stopping that he was out of fuel.
The session finally drew to a close.
As things stood, Lewis Hamilton topped the second practice session ahead of the title contenders. Vettel, Alonso and Webber followed the McLaren driver. The Woking-based team looked very competitive this weekend and it was am interesting prospect to see
whether they were able to carry that performance during qualifying and the race on Sunday.
However, toning things down a bit, perhaps it’s safe to admit that McLaren have been rather late to respond after literally throwing away the driver’s championsip. As suggested on numerous occasions, practice sessions are meant for the drivers to get a feel
of the course. The rest of the field could arguably be taking a conservative route till D-day. On the flip side, the Briton took the fastest time in the period albeit doing the fewest number of laps than any of the top 5 drivers in the championship – The McLaren
went around the track 25 times while his team mate, Mark Webber, did 28 laps and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso could manage a time that was half a second slower than the Briton after 29 laps. Sebastian Vettel did 28 laps and still couldn’t break into the 1 minute
40’s.
Bearing in mind the bigger picture, it was yet another intriguing practice session. While round 1 might have gone to Red Bull, the follow up had McLaren written all over it. With such intense competition on the offering, the result of practice session 3
looked more of a big deal than it usually is in Formula One races – Who would take the final practice session, and with it, the added psychological advantage heading into qualifying afterwards?
Stay tuned for more highlights from Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi...
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