“It was a really cool event, I hope I get to do one one day”, Hamilton said ahead of this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
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Considering how his teammate Nico Rosberg has won the last two races of the season – with Hamilton coming second ever time – the Brit will probably want to end the year on a high and win the race on Sunday. Fellow Mercedes man Nico Rosberg is second with 297 points and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel is third with 266 points.
The Mercedes duo, who will also be chasing a record 12th one-two of the season in Sunday’s race, were comfortably ahead of the rest. In his latest column for Sky Sports, analyst Mark Hughes pondered whether the subtleties of the Mercedes drivers’ contrasting styles meant the imposition had proved a bigger handicap to Hamilton than Rosberg.
Daniil Kvyat was sixth-quickest in the second Red Bull Racing vehicle, the Russian finishing ahead of Ferraris Kimi Räikkönen and the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.
Alonso said his prominent showing owed more to the fact that McLaren did its running on super-soft tires later in the session than other teams and said “unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be ninth-fastest tomorrow”. Rosberg is determined to seal a third successive win. Hamilton, who chose 44 to be his career number and has retained it this year instead of number one, is already encouraged by the omens he has seen since arriving in Abu Dhabi.
“It’s a good start to the weekend”, he said.
The race was 267 laps – really long – but I thoroughly enjoyed it, trying to understand the strategy and the differences between the cars. Lots of boat parties in the marina, lots of fun. Located on a man-made island to the east of Abu Dhabi, the Hermann Tilke-designed circuit stretches 3.451 miles and is famous for its pitlane exit that passes underneath Turn 1 as well as the high-tech air-conditioned pit garages and the largest permanent lighting system in the world. Ricciardo has plenty to look forward to.
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The grid girls will be flag bearers for the race auto drivers, and help at the prize ceremony of the final race of the 2015 season. Palm trees adorn the edges of the circuit with intricate stadium sections around stunning architecture. Bottas was next to pass on Lap 33 taking 3rd place.
