Vettel and Hamilton predict 'close' season finale

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Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton shared the honours on Friday after taking turns topping the time sheets in Abu Dhabi.

Vettel was fastest in the afternoon FP1 session. Hamilton was just over a tenth off the Ferrari's pace. But in the cooler evening conditions for FP2 the situation was reversed. The Mercedes went top with a new track record, while Vettel finished second.

Both drivers were happy with their day, and predicted a close battle over the rest of the weekend.

"The car and the balance were good. I think we were all very close," said Vettel. "If we can do the usual step forward on Saturday and improve the car a little bit, then it should be a good day,

"I don’t think we need to do too much [overnight]," he added. "Saturday is always particular and different, but we’ll see what happens. We need to get everything right."

Even though this year's drivers and constructors titles have now been settled, Vettel remained as committed as ever to winning this weekend's race.

"It is important to finish this season in the right way," he insisted. "The better the result, the better the mood within the team."

FP2: Hamilton picks up the pace after dark in Abu Dhabi

Hamilton gave a rare glimpse into the strain of the season when he admitted that he was glad that this was the final race of the year.

"It's been a good Friday, but I'm happy that it's the last one of the season," he said." Especially for this weekend, I've got a helmet with gold leaf for the world championship, which I'm really grateful for.

"We got lots of laps in today and made good progress with the balance of the car," he continued. "We have a bit of work to do, but I feel like we're quite competitive here.

"It's relatively close still, but I like that!"

Mercedes chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin agreed that this weekend's battle was too close to call at this point.

"It's difficult to know where everyone is as there seemed to be a lot of traffic out there today," he pointed out.

"Many cars were struggling to string clear laps together.

"We are expecting another tough battle for pole tomorrow, having seen strong times posted by both Red Bull and Ferrari through the sessions," he predicted.

"But we are determined to finish the season on a high, and will make sure we give it our best shot."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.