Sebastian Vettel lights up practice time leaderboard

ABU DHABI // If ever there was any doubt, Sebastian Vettel confirmed under the floodlights at Yas Marina Circuit on Friday night that he has no intention of taking his foot off the gas just because he has a fourth consecutive world championship sewn up like a racing glove.

The Red Bull Racing driver secured the 2013 title only a few days ago, but any talk of the German coasting to the end of the season was dismissed when he clocked the fastest lap time in the opening practice session ahead of Sunday's Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Vettel lapped the 5.5km circuit in 1 minute, 41.33 seconds to remain the favourite for pole position at a venue where he has set the pace in two of the past four years. Mark Webber, his teammate, had the second-best time at 0.15s behind.

“It’s difficult to say how we compare to the others, as we know the Lotus is quick here, but we also had decent pace,” Vettel said. “It’s not always so easy at this circuit, with the conditions changing throughout the day. We start in the sun and finish at night and the track temperature changes during that time. But, no big issues, so I’m pretty happy.”

Vettel is chasing his seventh successive race win this season, a feat that would equal his German compatriot Michael Schumacher’s modern-day record, set in 2004. Victories at all three remaining races would see the sport’s youngest quadruple champion equal the F1 record of nine consecutive victories, set by Italian Alberto Ascari over the 1952 and 1953 seasons.

Webber, meanwhile, is out to end his F1 career on a high after deciding he will quit the sport following the season finale later this month. The Australian driver has won at least one grand prix every year since 2009, but has yet to finish atop the podium in his final season. Bad luck has plagued his car throughout the year, but barring technical issues, he is hoping to push teammate Vettel all the way.

“The second session was more representative of the race and qualifying than the first, due to the time of day and temperatures,” said Webber, who finished fourth-fastest in the early session. “It wasn’t a bad feeling for the first day. We got the information we needed, so let’s see how we get on [in qualifying]. We’ll go through everything and try to understand the car on both tyre compounds.”

The Red Bull pair appeared ominously quicker than any of their rivals, with Vettel’s lap proving 0.35s faster than Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, who himself was only hundredths ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg after their low-fuel, soft tyre simulations.

Hamilton took pole position at the inaugural Abu Dhabi race in 2009, yet had to wait until 2011 before he actually tasted the rosewater that accompanies victory here.

Mercedes’ performance has dipped in recent months, however, as the German manufacturers continue their quest to secure second place in the constructors’ championship – and the increased prize money it brings.

Their 2008 world champion explained some of the difficulties of trying to set up at Yas.

“As the temperatures cool down, the characteristics of the car change and you get an increase in understeer, so the main challenge is to try and pre-empt the set-up that you’re going to need,” Hamilton said. “Physically, it gets easier when the sun goes down, but you don’t even notice the visibility change as they do such a good job of lighting the track.

“A decent start, but there’s a lot of work ahead of us over the weekend and we’ll give it everything we can – as always.”

Top times

Despite arriving late Kimi Raikkonen still proved quick.

Position, driver, team and time

1 Vettel, Red Bull 1m41.335secs

2 Webber, Red Bull 1.41.490

3 Hamilton, Mercedes 1.41.690

4 Raikkonen, Lotus 1.41.726

5 Rosberg, Mercedes 1.41.758

gmeenaghan@thenational.ae