ABU DHABI, CMC – Lewis Hamilton remained ahead of title rival Nico Rosberg, as the Mercedes teammates continued to set the stage for a classic showdown in tomorrow’s final Grand Prix of the Formula One season.
The 29-year-old Hamilton was fastest in yesterday’s practice session with a best time of one minute, 42.113 seconds to edge Rosberg who was second fastest in 1:42.196.
Hamilton leads the drivers standings heading into this weekend’s Grand Prix, but is only 17 points ahead.
“It’s been a good Friday. We’ve run the same programme as we run every race weekend but this time we had the whole of both sessions to work with the tyres, look at long runs, analyse setup and the countless other things you need to assess in practice which was great,” said the Brit, whose paternal grandparents hail from Grenada.
“Coming into the weekend I was already excited and couldn’t wait to get out on track. When you know you have a package as competitive as ours it’s like being a kid at Christmas.”
Hamilton sits on top the standings with 334 points but is just narrowly ahead of his German counterpart who won the last outing in Sao Paulo, to narrow the gap.
However, nothing is certain going into the final weekend of the F1 season, especially with the controversial double points being awarded to the winner tomorrow.
In order to take his second World title, Hamilton needs to finish ahead of Rosberg or place no lower than second if Rosberg takes victory. If Rosberg does not win, Hamilton needs to finish fifth or better.
Regardless of the permutations swirling around, Hamilton said he felt under no pressure.
I don’t feel any particular pressure this weekend. I’ll just drive the way I always drive and what will be, will be. So far it’s all moving in the right direction so I just have to keep working away at it.”
He has won ten of the 18 races this season.
