Hamilton dominates final Abu Dhabi practice

Getting ready for qualifying

Preparations for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix resumed this afternoon with a final 60-minute practice session.

Every driver completed an installation lap and came back in the pits. It was not long before Jérôme d’Ambrosio broke the silence and headed out for a first run. He was soon joined on track by several other drivers.

Sergio Pérez set the early pace, trading fastest time with Force India’s Paul di Resta. The frontrunners then left the pits and got going. Jenson Button soon topped the order but faced fierce opposition from his teammate Hamilton and Ferrari’s Massa.

As the McLarens picked up pace, the Red Bull drivers were just getting ready to join the track for their first run of the day. They left the pits with 35 minutes remaining. Alonso followed them out too.

Webber and Vettel rapidly moved up the order, setting the third and fourth fastest times. Both kept pushing and the Australian gained a couple of places. He slotted in second position, just 0.002s shy of Button’s benchmark. Vettel was not done yet and eventually took over at the front. He was marginally – 0.055s – faster than his McLaren rival though.

With 20 minutes remaining, Hamilton responded to the World Champion and set a new fastest time.

Some teams then decided to switch to the softer tyre option. Massa made good use of it to top the order. The yellow-ringed rubber helped Rosberg to third fastest. Sutil then jumped at the top of the timesheet but was soon demoted to 2nd place by Massa. Rosberg subsequently took a turn at the front

The final ten minutes saw more soft tyres runs. Mark Webber shot to the top of the order while his teammate Vettel slotted in 2nd position. Both McLarens were on improving laps: Hamilton took over at the front, Button settled for 4th place.

The Briton held on to first place and topped the session. Vettel was 2nd fastest, 0.4s behind the McLaren driver. Webber was third with Button fourth and Alonso fifth.