Lewis Hamilton has positioned McLaren as a likely candidate to claim pole position, with the Englishman ensuring that the Woking squad has finished quickest at every practice session for this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The circuit’s maiden pole-sitter went quickest on the circuit, ahead of the Red Bull pairing of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, while Jenson Button sandwiched the pair in fourth place.
Unlike both of yesterday’s practice sessions, this one-hour session was generally without incident. However, two drivers suffered problems and lost crucial mileage ahead of qualifying: Jarno Trulli failed to post a time courtesy of a gearbox problem, while Rubens Barrichello suffered an oil leak after changing his engine on Friday.
While Ferrari, Mercedes GP and Force India are cleat top-ten contenders, the midfield saw a close scrap for timesheet honours between the Renault, Sauber and Toro Rosso drivers, while Williams look set to be eliminated in Q1, as Pastor Maldonado’s 17th-fastest effort would indicate.
The final minutes of the session saw the most movement on the timesheets, with Mark Webber briefly claiming top honours before Hamilton clocked the first sub-1m39s lap of the weekend, which he improved next time around.
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2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Session Times:
Driver | Team | Time | Laps | ||
1. | Lewis Hamilton | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-26 | 1:38.976 | 17 |
2. | Sebastian Vettel | ![]() |
Red Bull Renault RB7 | + 0.427 | 18 |
3. | Mark Webber | ![]() |
Red Bull Renault RB7 | + 0.451 | 18 |
4. | Jenson Button | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-26 | + 0.453 | 16 |
5. | Fernando Alonso | ![]() |
Ferrari F150° Italia | + 0.685 | 16 |
6. | Nico Rosberg | ![]() |
Mercedes GP W02 | + 1.159 | 19 |
7. | Felipe Massa | ![]() |
Ferrari F150° Italia | + 1.207 | 18 |
8. | Adrian Sutil | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes VJM04 | + 1.453 | 21 |
9. | Paul di Resta | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes VJM04 | + 1.535 | 19 |
10. | Michael Schumacher | ![]() |
Mercedes GP W02 | + 1.962 | 18 |
11. | Bruno Senna | ![]() |
Renault R31 | + 2.533 | 21 |
12. | Kamui Kobayashi | ![]() |
Sauber Ferrari C30 | + 2.551 | 21 |
13. | Sergio Pérez | ![]() |
Sauber Ferrari C30 | + 2.590 | 20 |
14. | Vitaly Petrov | ![]() |
Renault R31 | + 2.618 | 18 |
15. | Sébastien Buemi | ![]() |
Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6 | + 2.646 | 18 |
16. | Jaime Alguersuari | ![]() |
Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6 | + 2.879 | 18 |
17. | Pastor Maldonado | ![]() |
Williams Cosworth FW33 | + 3.079 | 19 |
18. | Heikki Kovalainen | ![]() |
Lotus Renault T128 | + 4.433 | 22 |
19. | Rubens Barrichello | ![]() |
Williams Cosworth FW33 | + 4.885 | 5 |
20. | Timo Glock | ![]() |
Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02 | + 6.286 | 23 |
21. | Vitantonio Liuzzi | ![]() |
HRT F1 Cosworth F111 | + 6.326 | 20 |
22. | Jérôme d’Ambrosio | ![]() |
Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02 | + 6.533 | 22 |
23. | Daniel Ricciardo | ![]() |
HRT F1 Cosworth F111 | + 6.756 | 20 |
24. | Jarno Trulli | ![]() |
Lotus Renault T128 | no time | 1 |
[Image via Sutton Images]
Richard Bailey
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