Lewis Hamilton edges out Nico Rosberg in Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Nico Rosberg set the fastest time in Friday’s practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

You can imagine safety was a priority, though, as even if the championship is already won, the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team still needed its main driver in one piece.

Sergio Perez was third for Force India, four-tenths adrift.

By contrast, it was an unusually low key session for Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen down in fifth and seventh, split by the second Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat.

“Lewis didn’t show his pace on one lap”, he said.

Ferrari are often more competitive relative to the champions when the softer of the tyres are in use – as they are this weekend with the grippiest combination of soft and super-soft.

Rosberg topped the qualifying simulations again in FP2 but Hamilton is confident he can turn the tables with some set-up changes ahead of Saturday evening.

Nico Rosberg is cautious about his chances in Abu Dhabi and is predicting a very “difficult weekend” as his engine is “extremely old” with “very, very high mileage”.

This is because he suffered an engine failure at the Italian Grand Prix back in September that put him out of sync on engine usage. He has been good and I think he will ruin Mercedes’s party this weekend. “It’s clear that he still has some in reserve”.

“So, today is not the real picture”.

“Race pace doesn’t feel very good at the moment but it always changes when we get to the actual race, but I will make some changes hopefully that help with the graining”, he said. With the championships decided the teams can obviously push to the maximum and our tire choice in Abu Dhabi provides them with an interesting challenge: while the surface is very smooth, the tires are still pushed quite hard due to the track layout, so tire management becomes an important part of the strategy, particularly under acceleration in the traction areas, where it is very easy to spin the wheels.

With the 2015 season starting in Melbourne, Australia, in March, the finale is set to take place on Sunday, November 29. Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado and Williams driver Felipe Massa rounded out the top 10.

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According to Forbes, the average Formula One team is worth $494 million, up from $337 million in 2012, with Ferrari listed as the most valuable team, worth $1.4 billion, followed by McLaren at $810 million, Red Bull at $640 million and Mercedes at $560 million, last year.