Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRace weekend

Rosberg retains upper hand with Ferrari, Force India close

Nico Rosberg ended the final practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix more than a quarter of a second clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

While Hamilton was fastest in FP1 on Friday, Rosberg hit back with the fastest time of the second session and then extended that advantage to 0.281s in FP3. Hamilton had a difficult session as he suffered a spin at Turn 5 on soft tyres before running wide at the same corner on his first supersoft tyre lap.

A strange moment between the two Mercedes drivers then followed, as Hamilton closed up on Rosberg and almost ran in to the rear of his team-mate's car at the Turn 11-12-13 complex before overtaking on the exit.

Sebastian Vettel was third fastest and just 0.048s slower than Hamilton after the world champion's mistakes, with Ferrari closing the gap on the supersoft tyre. Similar to Hamilton, Vettel had a spin during the session as he slid off at Turn 1 on the soft tyre but managed a clean lap on the quicker compound.

Force India remained competitive after impressing in FP2, with Sergio Perez fourth quickest, 0.6s slower than Rosberg despite saying on Friday the focus would be on improving his race pace. Kimi Raikkonen ended the session fifth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in sixth as the only other drivers within a second of the fastest time.

Williams pair Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas improved to eighth and ninth respectively - behind Nico Hulkenberg in the second Force India - but did not deliver the step forward normally seen from the team on a Saturday.

There was continued encouragement for McLaren after Fernando Alonso's ninth place in FP2, with Jenson Button ending the final practice session in 11th on a circuit where he expects the team to struggle.

While Ricciardo was inside the top six, team-mate Daniil Kvyat failed to set a time as an electrical problem saw him confined to the garage for the majority of the session, with Kvyat completing just two laps.

The order has remained fairly stable throughout the weekend so far, but times in FP1 and FP3 are rarely representative in Abu Dhabi due to the hot conditions, with FP2, qualifying and the race taking place at sunset and finishing under floodlights with much cooler track temperatures.

Eric Silbermann's Abu Dhabi grumpy preview

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Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
01	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:41.856	20
02	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:42.137	20
03	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:42.185	20
04	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:42.448	18
05	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:42.627	18
06	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:42.726	15
07	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:42.859	18
08	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:43.173	24
09	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:43.239	19
10	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:43.429	22
11	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:43.508	15
12	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	1:43.680	18
13	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:43.718	24
14	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:43.826	19
15	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:43.928	21
16	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:44.014	13
17	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:44.325	21
18	Will Stevens	Manor	1:47.283	16
19	Roberto Merhi	Manor	1:47.520	17
20	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull		2

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.