Hamilton still on top in FP2

Lewis Hamilton remained fastest during second practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, although Mercedes team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg was within a tenth of his best time.

In more representative conditions, Hamilton worked his way down to a 1:42.113 on the Super Soft rubber, eight hundredths up on Rosberg. The Silver Arrows again enjoyed a massive advantage over the rest of the field, with Kevin Magnussen’s McLaren seven tenths adrift in third.

Quadruple World Champion Sebastian Vettel was the last driver to dip into the 1m42s, despite losing a small amount of track time when his DRS flap stuck open. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas recovered from his bodywork issues earlier in the day to place fifth, edging out the second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.

Ferrari endured a mixed session, with Kimi Räikkönen jumping up to seventh but Fernando Alonso failing to complete a lap amid electrical problems. Alonso’s car ground to a halt just 20 minutes in and, despite being returned to the pits at the halfway stage, could not be repaired in time for another run.

Jenson Button suffered another delay in the form of a hydraulic problem, but ultimately managed to get some proper running under his belt. After gathering some much-needed data with the Soft compound, the McLaren driver bolted on the Option rubber to jump up to eighth place.

Toro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyat wound up ninth, while Felipe Massa’s Williams rounded out the top 10 positions.

Full results:

Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Laps
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:42.113 35
2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:42.196 0.083 37
3 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:42.895 0.782 37
4 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:42.959 0.846 33
5 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:43.070 0.957 34
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:43.183 1.070 32
7 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:43.489 1.376 33
8 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:43.503 1.390 23
9 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:43.546 1.433 38
10 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:43.558 1.445 34
11 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1:43.746 1.633 37
12 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1:44.005 1.892 38
13 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:44.068 1.955 32
14 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 1:44.157 2.044 39
15 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:44.316 2.203 38
16 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:44.763 2.650 37
17 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:44.986 2.873 35
18 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1:45.505 3.392 38
19 46 Will Stevens Caterham-Renault 1:47.057 4.944 34
20 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari No time 2