Nico Rosberg ended second practice for Sunday’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on top of the timesheets after edging out Lewis Hamilton.
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Rosberg clocked 1 minute 40.237 seconds on the 5.554-kilometre Yas Marina Circuit, with Hamilton 0.377 adrift, to claim his seventh pole of the season and the sixth in succession to conclude the season.
“Before it was close in one direction, now it is quicker in this direction”, Rosberg said.
With both driver and team championships having long since been decided, the anxiety which surrounded this race in the desert previous year, where Hamilton beat Rosberg to the title, is somewhat lacking.
Mexican Sergio Perez was fourth-fastest for Force India ahead of Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull, Finn Valtteri Bottas of Williams, German Nico Hulkenberg of Force India and Brazilian Felipe Massa in the second Williams.
So too is Rosberg, who is chasing his third successive win and sixth pole position in a row.
Rosberg, who has also won the last two races, later told reporters that he felt “quicker in the moment” after what has largely been a disappointing year spent in Hamilton’s shadow. “I’ve got a lot of support here this weekend and that 44th win is still out there to grab, so I will be working hard for it tomorrow”. But the Frenchman endured a troubled final qualifying session after he stopped on track with a mechanical problem and will start only 15th.
“I said coming into this weekend trying to make some changes – disadvantages myself by taking something off my vehicle that was a benefit, but at the end of the day I wasn’t good enough”.
“At the beginning of the season he was always this tiny little bit ahead, so it’s good to turn that around”.
The Super soft tyres are helping the drivers put quick times and Ferrari might have an edge over Mercedes on Race day, at race pace.
“We know what’s changed on the auto, but I just tried to figure out why I couldn’t seem to get a comfortable balance”, Hamilton added.
You may notice that the other Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel is missing from that list; that’s because Ferrari miscalculated on the cut-off time the driver needed for Q2.
“Obviously, the vehicle has been handling pretty well all weekend”. I think they said they [Mercedes] don’t think they made the vehicle particularly slower, but it definitely isn’t faster.
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“As a team we didn’t do the right decision today and that has a big effect”.
