Abu Dhabi – Free Practice 2: Hamilton still on top, Alonso at a standstill

The session starts in the late afternoon and takes place, like the race and qualifying, at dusk. Adrian Sutil is on track after giving his seat to Adderly Fong during FP1. He goes out on a 5-lap stint and sets the first time of the session. The Williams cars are back on track after their morning engine cover problems. On the McLaren side, work is being done on Jenson Button’s car, which had only completed 8 laps this morning.

After about ten minutes, the Mercedes cars take to the track and position themselves in front, Rosberg ahead of Hamilton. Adrian Sutil, meanwhile, suffers from a broken brake disc at the end of the straight and has to return. Shortly after, it’s Fernando Alonso who encounters a problem: his Ferrari is immobilized in the last sector. The engine has shut off, and the day is already over for the Spaniard. The session is not interrupted, and the car is quickly removed behind the barriers.

After 30 minutes, Rosberg leads Hamilton, Bottas, Magnussen, and Vettel. Button can finally get into his McLaren. Some drivers are using the super-soft tires for the first time this weekend. This is notably the case for Jean-Eric Vergne, who sets the 6th fastest time. Vettel is the first top driver with the red-walled tires. He is 13 thousandths ahead of Rosberg, the Mercedes driver having set his time on soft tires.

The Mercedes cars are on track with super-soft tires: 1:42.303 for Rosberg then 1:42.159 for Hamilton. Magnussen takes 3rd place 0.7 seconds behind the Briton. The two Silver Arrows continue to improve, with 1:42.113 for No. 44 and 1:42.196 for No. 6. Afterwards, the drivers begin long runs under race conditions, with Vettel notably completing a stint on super-soft tires. He has a scare while braking in the second sector after a big slide.

After an hour, Hamilton is in the lead, 0.08 seconds ahead of Rosberg, 0.7 seconds ahead of Magnussen, 0.8 seconds ahead of Vettel, and nearly a full second ahead of Bottas. Maldonado makes several small mistakes during his stint and even goes straight under the grandstand located above the escape road at turn 9. The session ends with the drivers running long stints, with Lewis Hamilton – very comfortable with tire wear, judging by his radio feedback – leading ahead of Nico Rosberg.