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After an opening
Friday practice for the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix the AT&T Williams team
would see both their drivers down the times. Also Rubens Barrichello would
have a problem with his car that would see him pull off the track in the
final moments of the session. The second Friday practice would see the
drivers run under lights for the first time with the session commencing at
5PM local time. For the Lotus team Kovalainen would return to his car taking
over from Fauzy. With the track dry hopefully there would be some more
running than there was in the first Friday session which was affected by a
damp track.
The session would get underway with Di Grassi the first driver out onto the
track. Klien and Heidfeld also came out followed by Webber. Vettel and Rubens Barrichello
would also take to the track followed by both McLaren's. More drivers would
come out including Nico Hulkenberg. Di Grassi would set the first time with
a 1m:48.506 followed by Klien with a 1m:51.210. Webber would pit joined by
Vettel. Both Ferrari's were also put on the track as Heidfeld went fastest
with a 1m:45.314. Di Grassi would improve with a time of 1m:47.739 but
remained in second. Rubens would set a time of 1m:53.730 to be in fourth and
slowest. Heidfeld would improve with a 1m:44.177 but he would be passed by
Hamilton with a1m:43.292. Button would move into second with a time of
1m:44.112. Massa was now fourth while Nico was in tenth, 1m:49.565. Rubens
had dropped to fourteenth but was on a quicker lap that would see him move
up to fifth, 1m:44.947. Alonso was now fastest, 1m:42.474, while Button was
now in second, 1m:43.049.
Nico would also find time and move up to fifth, 1m:44.359, but this would
become seventh as Liuzzi and Rosberg moved ahead. But it was all changing
rapidly as Schumacher moved up to fifth and Rubens sixth, 1m:43.832.
Hamilton was now faster with a 1m:41.664 with Alonso dropping to second.
Massa was now third from Button, Heidfeld, Schumacher, Rubens, Liuzzi,
Sutil, and Rosberg in tenth. But with Alguersuari moving into ninth Rosberg
would drop to eleventh. Hamilton would pit with Alonso still second even
with an improved time of 1m:41.885. Massa was third, 1m:42.144, while Rubens
had dropped to tenth and Nico had moved up to eighth, 1m:43.303. Rubens
would improve one place to be ninth , 1m:43.479, but just as quickly Sutil
would move ahead of Rubens. Massa, Button, and Schumacher had all pitted.
Petrov was now in eighth, 1m:43.151, seeing Nico drop to ninth and Rubens
twelfth. Heidfeld and Sutil were in tenth and eleventh. With fifteen minutes
of the session completed it was Alonso fastest, 1m:41.473, from Hamilton,
Massa, Button, and Schumacher. Both Webber and Vettel were now back out on
the track with Webber moving up to sixth, 1m:42.892, while Vettel had yet to
set a time. Vettel's first lap would see him in fifteenth, 1m:43.523, while
Kubica had moved up to tenth, 1m:42.766. Webber would improve to be fifth,
1m:42.438, while on his next lap Kubica would move up to seventh, 1m:42.766.
Kobayashi was also able to find time jumping up to tenth but this would
become eleventh as Vettel improved to be sixth, 1m:42.705. Both Webber and
Vettel were on improved laps with Vettel and Webber swapping places. But
Webber would improve to be third with a time of 1m:42.082. Vettel would pit
while other drivers would start to return to the track.
Both Williams drivers were back out while Webber would also pit. More
drivers would return to the track as the light started to fade as evening
approached. Nico was now in thirteenth and Rubens sixteenth. Kubica would
put in a quick lap moving up to third, 1m:41.916. Schumacher would find some
time and would improve to seventh with a lap of 1m:42.246. Kubica would pit
while Massa had moved up to fifth, 1m:42.144. Button was also on an improved
lap seeing him finish in tenth while Rubens and Nico were thirteenth and
fourteenth. Both Alonso and Hamilton were back out with sixty minutes
remaining. Both Red Bull cars were still in their pits but Webber would be
the first to return to the track. Rubens continued to find some pace from
his FW32 setting a 1m:43.061 that would see him in eleventh. Nico was now in
fourteenth while Vettel had dropped to eighth.
Vettel would return to the track while Nico would also improve to be in
ninth, 1m:42.449. Rubens had now dropped to twelfth. Both Williams drivers
continued on the harder tyre for their runs as they both pitted. Petrov
would move up to tenth, 1m:42.602, while Hamilton was on a quicker lap but
he would abort it after running wide pulling into the pits. Kubica was still
third from Webber, Button, Massa, Schumacher, Vettel, Nico, and Petrov in
tenth. So with fifty minutes left Nico was ninth and Rubens thirteenth.
Alonso would cut nine thousandths off his quickest time with a lap of
1m:41.464. Alonso would pit while Webber would also find time moving up to
second, 1m:41.550. Vettel would also improved with a 1m:42.119 to be fifth.
Kobayashi would take thirteenth from Rubens while Webber had pitted.
Kobayashi was now in eleventh, 1m:42.768, as Rubens returned to the track.
Vettel was now in fourth, 1m:41.907, seeing Kubica drop to fifth. Vettel
continued to improve on his times setting a 1m:41.534 to now be in second.
Webber was now third followed by Hamilton, Kubica, and Button. Nico would
join Rubens out on the track with Rubens still in fourteenth, 1m:43.061. At
least for both Williams drivers the margin to the quickest time had come
down considerably. Nico was now just 0.985 behind Alonso's time, with Nico's
time a 1m:42.449. The top three had all pitted but Hamilton was back out on
the softer tyre. Petrov would push Nico down to tenth while Rubens was still
fourteenth. Alonso was now back out while Buemi would lose control of his
car under braking for Turn 11 and would run straight onto the asphalt
run-off area. He was able to continue without damage.
More drivers were coming out on the softer tyre with Petrov finding time
after several laps on the soft rubber, moving up to sixth with a 1m:42.096.
But Hamilton would improve to be fastest with a time of 1m:41.213. Alonso
was also on the softer tyre as Alguersuari spun his car at Turn 19 after
running wide onto the Astroturf. He would get pout of his car with his
session at an end. Hamilton had found over three tenths more on his soft
tyres to extend his lead at the top with a 1m:40.888. Both Williams drivers
had pitted with Rubens returning to the track with twenty five minutes
remaining. Hamilton was still fastest from Alonso, Webber, Vettel, Kubica,
Massa, Petrov, Button, Liuzzi, and Rosberg. Vettel would improve to jump up
to second with a 1m:41.145. Nico was now in twelfth and Rubens now in
fifteenth.
Massa would stop at the approach to Turn 11. He would get out of his car and
would stand there while his car was pushed behind the barriers. With twelve
minutes of the session remaining Rubens had pitted while as more drivers
improved on their times with Hamilton still fastest with a best lap of
1m:40.888 with Vettel second, Alonso third and Webber fourth. Kubica was in
fifth with Massa sixth, Petrov seventh, Button eighth, Liuzzi ninth, and
Rosberg in tenth. Webber was back out with just a handful of drivers still
in their pits, one being Vettel. The drivers were on heavy fuel runs on the
softer tyre with Rubens now back on the track. As the final minutes counted
down only Sutil and Kobayashi were still in their pits. Both Sutil and
Kobayashi would come back for one final run as the session came to an end.
The drivers would again be allowed to return to the grid to practice their
starts.
So with the end of the session it would be Hamilton fastest from Vettel, Alonso, Webber,
Kubica, Massa, Petrov, Button, Liuzzi, Rosberg, Schumacher, Nico, Sutil,
Kobayashi, and Rubens in fifteenth. Nico and Rubens had closed the gap to
the fastest times but were still between 1.5 and 2.0 seconds off the pace. |