McLaren One-Two After Second Practice in Abu Dhabi

The second practice session from Abu Dhabi began at dusk and finished on a splendid lit Yas Marina track to gave drivers a taste of what Sunday’s race will be like.

Both Mercedes-McLaren cars looked strong on the track, but it wasn’t until mid-session when they really started to shine. At the beginning Hamilton ran wide at the end of the long back straight, but he went back into the chase soon after.

Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi looked very good at first, taking advantage of an inspired car setup, and managed to improve his lap time successively as he got more and more used to the circuit.

Another driver who looked good from the beginning to the end, showing great consistency was Kamui Kobayashi. The Japanese driver found himself in the top five for most of the session.

Lewis Hamilton managed to register a blistering lap mid-session and with time passing, it looked like Hamilton and Button would repeat their morning session performance. The surprise came from Mercedes-McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen, who recorded a lap time of 1:41.307s thanks to a late run with soft tires.

Vettel and Webber looked consistent as well with room still for improvement, both in car setup and tactical driving approach. Adrian Sutil and Robert Kubica seemed to be the most unlucky drivers in this second session of practice, as the Force India driver had to pit early due to brake problems, while ‘the Pole’ retired after only 13 laps due to an engine failure.


Pos   Driver  Team   Time   Laps
1. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:41.307 35
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:41.504 + 0.197 34
3. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:41.541 + 0.234 39
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:41.591 + 0.284 37
5. Kobayashi Toyota (B) 1:41.636 + 0.329 34
6. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:41.683 + 0.376 37
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:41.684 + 0.377 34
8. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:41.831 + 0.524 38
9. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:41.931 + 0.624 39
10. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:41.987 + 0.680 39
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:42.180 + 0.873 28
12. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:42.245 + 0.938 36
13. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:42.278 + 0.971 36
14. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:42.409 + 1.102 30
15. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:42.530 + 1.223 33
16. Alonso Renault (B) 1:42.782 + 1.475 29
17. Fisichella Ferrari (B) 1:42.932 + 1.625 37
18. Grosjean Renault (B) 1:43.021 + 1.714 37
19. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:43.022 + 1.715 39
20. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:43.708 + 2.401 13