Lewis Hamilton fastest in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix practice
Baku, November 12 (AZERTAC). Lewis Hamilton laid down a marker for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by producing the fastest lap in Friday practice.
The McLaren driver, who has a slim chance of winning the title in Sunday`s season-ending race, went round in one minute, 40.888 seconds at Yas Marina.
Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, third in the standings, was second quickest with a 1:41.145 while Ferrari`s championship leader Fernando Alonso was third.
Vettel`s team-mate Mark Webber was 0.427 seconds off the pace in fourth.
With teams not obliged to reveal the exact fuel loads their cars are carrying during practice, it is difficult to read too much into the results.
But it does appear that McLaren may have the pace to match Red Bull and Ferrari come race day and that is essential if Hamilton is to have any hope of lifting his second Formula 1 crown.
The Englishman sits fourth in the drivers` championship, 24 points adrift of Alonso with 25 awarded for a win.
So he must triumph on Sunday and pray that Alonso finishes out of the scoring, or his dreams are over for another year.
"The car feels good, so I`m hopeful for a good qualifying result tomorrow afternoon," said Hamilton. "Of course, it will be tough, because the Red Bulls tend to pull out half a second in Q3, but our pace is closer to theirs than it`s ever been.
"Of all the weekends this year, this time I feel like we really do have the right package to challenge the fastest cars. I think we can fight for the front row."
