It was just another day in the office for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team in Abu Dhabi, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg being the dominant drivers in the field as the two of them taking their battle for the championship down to the wire.
Hamilton was on top in both sessions on Friday, and felt the W05 car was the best he had ever driven at this circuit, a track he generally performs well on. Despite being on top, he is still looking to improve, and will be looking to stay ahead of his team-mate for the whole weekend, and in doing just that he will clinch his second World Drivers’ Championship.
“It’s been a good Friday,” reflected Hamilton. “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 set-up and the countless other things you need to assess in practice which was great. We made good steps forward with the set-up but, as always, there is still more time to be found.
“We’ll keep chipping away at it and look to improve in every area possible but the car feels great – the best I’ve ever driven here without doubt. The team have done an amazing job.
“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.
“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.”
Team-mate Rosberg was second in both sessions, but was not far behind Hamilton in either FP1 nor FP2, and still feels there is time to be found on his side of the garage. The German has already secured the pole position trophy for 2014 and will be looking for his eleventh P1 in qualifying on Saturday.
“It’s been a good day today but I really haven’t got my best lap together yet, so there is still a lot of work to do over the rest of the weekend,” said Rosberg. “In general the car felt great out there today. I just need to fine-tune it so that the set-up is exactly to my liking, then go for it and get the job done.
“This track really is amazing. It’s always a highlight when darkness falls and the lights come up – just spectacular! It will be a great show here, so I hope the fans at the circuit and everyone watching at home enjoy it.”
