FP2: Hamilton claims track record

Following Sebastian Vettel's opening quickest time in FP1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Friday, FP2 ended with Mercedes claiming the fastest time which they did through Lewis Hamilton, who recorded a Yas Marina track record to finish first.

The morning FP1 session saw Vettel fastest without much incident, but Hamilton came out of the pit with fervour in FP2 and eventually bettered the Ferrari driver by one-tenth of a second.

Hamilton recorded a time of 1:37.877, with many believing the ultrasoft tyres being used by Mercedes gave him the edge.

It was a decent run-out for Red Bull also, as Daniel Ricciardo ran Hamilton and Vettel fairly close for first position, eventually finishing three-tenths of a second behind the Mercedes man.

Behind Ricciardo, it was another battle between Ferrari and Mercedes and it was the former who came out on top as Kimi Raikkonen edged out Valtteri Bottas for fourth place. Red Bull was in behind in sixth with Max Verstappen, who didn't put together a fast lap time in the practice round.

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Seventh and eighth place was all about Force India as Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon battled each other as team-mates for the better position. Eventually, the former ended up very slightly ahead by just 0.01 second.

The top 10 was rounded out by Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso for Renault and McLaren-Honda respectively.

Felipe Massa, in his last ever Formula One weekend, was lucky to escape a collision with Ricciardo 15 minutes in but both drivers got through the incident unscathed.

FP1 results:

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:37.877
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:38.026
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:38.180
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:38.352
5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:38.537
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:38.894
7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:39.323
8 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:39.333
9 Nico Hulkenberg Renault Sport 1:39.529
10 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:39.559
11 Felipe Massa Williams 1:39.635
12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:39.671
13 Carlos Sainz Renault Sport 1:40.201
14 Lance Stroll Williams 1:40.329
15 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:40.694
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:41.128
17 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 1:41.270
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:41.302
19 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:41.496
20 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:41.560