World championship contender Sebastian Vettel left his rivals standing in opening practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Friday.
The Red Bull driver, one of four who can take the title this weekend, was over sixth tenths of a second clear of fellow protagonist Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel, 23, who has to finish in the top two to stand any chance of usurping Hamilton as F1’s youngest ever drivers’ champion, proved the clear pacesetter at the Yas Marina circuit, albeit in a session that was slow to get going after rain had surprisingly hit the venue.
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Formula 1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Hamilton, who was on pole for McLaren 12 months ago, was 0.609secs adrift as he embarked upon a weekend that sees him trying to overcome a daunting 24-point deficit to overall leader Fernando Alonso.
His team-mate, outgoing world champion Jenson Button, was third fastest, one second off Vettel’s pace, followed by the final contender, Red Bull’s Mark Webber. SkySports
Robert Kubica was fifth in the standings in his Renault, followed by championship leader Alonso, who knows he needs only a top-two finish to guarantee himself a third title.
Mercedes and Sauber took up the remaining four slots in the top 10, with Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg seventh and ninth for the former and Kamui Kobayashi and Nick Heidfeld eighth and 10th for the latter. The Press Association
Felipe Massa was 11th in the second Ferrari on 1m 45.160s, chased by Renault’s Vitaly Petrov on 1m 45.445s, Williams’ Rubens Barrichello, who stopped out on track at the end of the session, on 1m 45.474s, and the two Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi on 1m 45.552s and 1m 45.585s respectively.
Jaime Alguersuari was again Toro Rosso’s faster runner, on 1m 46.003s, ahead of Brazil hero Nico Hulkenberg on 1m 46.644s in the Williams and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi on 1m 47.105s.
Timo Glock was the fastest new team runner for Virgin with 1m 48.450s ahead of Jarno Trulli’s Lotus (1m 48.472s) and his own team mate Lucas di Grassi on 1m 49.375s. Bruno Senna’s was the faster HRT on 1m 49.590s, ahead of Christian Klien on 1m 50.274s. At the back came Fairuz Fauzy (deputising for the session for Heikki Kovalainen in the second Lotus), on 1m 51.705s. Formula 1
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