FP2: Ferrari no match for Red Bull on first day in Abu Dhabi

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel rose to the top of the pile as dusk fell in Abu Dhabi on Friday afternoon, but the world champion ended FP2 only 0.168s ahead of FP1 pacesetter Lewis Hamilton for McLaren.

Vettel and Hamilton battled for the fastest time for the first hour, after which the times failed to improve as the ambient and track temperatures dropped. The German eventually won the fight with 1m 41.751s, but Hamilton then worked down to 1m 41.919s to keep him honest. Jenson Button was third in the other McLaren with 1m 42.412s, fractionally ahead of Mark Webber in the second Red Bull on 1m 42.466s.

Romain Grosjean put Lotus into play with 1m 42.500s, backed by team mate Kimi Raikkonen on 12m 42.532s. Right behind them, Fernando Alonso managed 1m 42.587s for Ferrari, with his team mate Felipe Massa on 1m 42.823s. Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10 for Williams and Sauber with 1m 42.998s and 1m 43.106s respectively.

Williams' Bruno Senna backed Maldonado with 1m 43.191s despite missing FP1, then came Nico Rosberg in the leading Mercedes on 1m 43.200s, Nico Hulkenberg in the first Force India on 1m 43.255s, Michael Schumacher on 1m 43.267s in the other Mercedes, Force India's Paul di Resta on 1m 43.578s and Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi in 1m 43.689s.

Again the Toro Rossos were just out of the midfield club, with Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne in their customary 17th and 18th places on 1m 44.260s and 1m 45.005s.

Vitaly Petrov had a spin on his way to 19th with 1m 45.245s, with Caterham team mate Heikki Kovalainen next on 1m 45.782s. Timo Glock lapped his Marussia in 1m 46.589s to edge out Charles Pic on 1m 46.671s and Pedro de la Rosa on 1m 46.707s for HRT. Team mate Narain Karthikeyan also spun, and brought up the rear on 1m 47.406s. (Formula1.com)

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