2013 ABU DHABI GP: FRIDAY RESULTS

With sunset coming around half an hour into the second free practice session at Abu Dhabi, the teams had experience of driving both in daylight during the first session, with high ambient temperatures, and also in the cooler conditions of the evening. The fastest time of the day was set by Red Bull’s newly-crowned champion Sebastian Vettel, who established a benchmark of 1m41.335s on the soft tyre halfway through FP2.

The other compound that has been nominated for Abu Dhabi is the White medium, meaning that the teams are working with the same selection as they had for India. Nonetheless, even at this early stage in the weekend, there is much less wear and degradation on the soft tyre in particular.

In the morning, when track temperatures peaked at 45 degrees centigrade, Lotus driver Romain Grosjean went quickest on the medium tyre. This was the only compound the teams used in FP1, before moving onto the soft tyre in the afternoon. Force India’s Paul di Resta had a braking issue that damaged the wheel rim, with no other tyre-related incidents throughout both sessions.

FIRST FREE PRACTICE

 P.    Driver               Team           Time       Gap   Laps
 1. Romain Grosjean       Lotus           1:44.241           20
 2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes AMG    1:44.433  + 0.192  22
 3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull        1:44.499  + 0.258  18
 4. Mark Webber           Red Bull        1:44.712  + 0.471  18
 5. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes AMG    1:44.741  + 0.500  23
 6. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus           1:44.929  + 0.688  21
 7. Paul di Resta         Force India     1:45.040  + 0.799  19
 8. Jenson Button         McLaren         1:45.099  + 0.858  19
 9. Pastor Maldonado      Williams        1:45.150  + 0.909  23
10. Sergio Perez          McLaren         1:45.331  + 1.090  19
11. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber          1:45.378  + 1.137  21
12. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari         1:45.440  + 1.199  17
13. Valtteri Bottas       Williams        1:45.823  + 1.582  21
14. James Calado          Force India     1:45.924  + 1.683  19
15. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber          1:46.068  + 1.827  17
16. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso      1:46.114  + 1.873  21
17. Felipe Massa          Ferrari         1:46.124  + 1.883  17
18. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso      1:46.126  + 1.885  20
19. Charles Pic           Caterham        1:47.600  + 3.359  21
20. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham        1:47.670  + 3.429  21
21. Jules Bianchi         Marussia        1:47.723  + 3.482  22
22. Rodolfo Gonzalez      Marussia        1:49.565  + 5.324  21

SECOND FREE PRACTICE

 P.     Driver              Team           Time       Gap   Laps
 1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull        1:41.335           33
 2. Mark Webber           Red Bull        1:41.490  + 0.155  32
 3. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes AMG    1:41.690  + 0.355  37
 4. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus           1:41.726  + 0.391  40
 5. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes AMG    1:41.758  + 0.423  39
 6. Sergio Perez          McLaren         1:42.006  + 0.678  35
 7. Jenson Button         McLaren         1:42.010  + 0.675  30
 8. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari         1:42.171  + 0.836  30
 9. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber          1:42.324  + 0.989  40
10. Felipe Massa          Ferrari         1:42.440  + 1.105  35
11. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber          1:42.509  + 1.174  37
12. Romain Grosjean       Lotus           1:42.607  + 1.272  18
13. Paul di Resta         Force India     1:42.806  + 1.471  26
14. Pastor Maldonado      Williams        1:42.952  + 1.617  35
15. Adrian Sutil          Force India     1:42.998  + 1.663  25
16. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso      1:43.152  + 1.817  28
17. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso      1:43.271  + 1.936  35
18. Valtteri Bottas       Williams        1:43.565  + 2.237  34
19. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham        1:44.138  + 2.803  34
20. Jules Bianchi         Marussia        1:44.459  + 3.124  34
21. Charles Pic           Caterham        1:44.525  + 3.190  37
22. Max Chilton           Marussia        1:45.565  + 4.230  26