Vettel drives towards championship

[1]

Sebastian Vettel on Friday moved a step closer to becoming the youngest triple world champion in Formula One history by topping the second practice times for Red Bull ahead of Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The defending world champion and current series leader clocked a best time of 1min 41.751secs to head the time-sheets above nearest rivals Britons Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button of McLaren.

Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Australian Mark Webber was in fourth place.

Hamilton had been fastest in the earlier session in scorching hot conditions at the Yas Marina circuit but was unable to match the 25-year-old German's improved effort in the twilight session that began in daylight and ended under floodlights.

Hamilton's best lap left him one-tenth of a second short of Vettel's fastest lap, the champion revelling in throwing his car around the track on which he could on Sunday help clinch a third successive teams' title for Red Bull.

Button was 0.66sec down in third ahead of a group of drivers who were little more than seven-tenths of a second slower than the dominant German.

These were led by fifth-placed Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus ahead of team-mate Finn Kimi Raikkonen, two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, who is second in the title race and 13 points behind Vettel with three races to go.

Team-mate Brazilian Felipe Massa was eighth, Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado of Williams ninth and Mexican Sergio Perez 10th for Sauber in a session run in sweltering conditions with an air temperature of 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit)

The track temperature was 41C at the start.

1. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Red Bull-Renault) 1:41.751, 2. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:41.919, 3. Jenson Button (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:42.412, 4. Mark Webber (AUS/Red Bull-Renault) 1:42.466, 5. Romain Grosjean (FRA/Lotus-Renault) 1:42.500, 6. Kimi Kaikkonen (FIN/Lotus-Renault) 1:42.532, 7. Fernando Alonso (ESP/Ferrari) 1:42.587, 8. Felipe Massa (BRA/Ferrari) 1:42.823, 9. Pastor Maldonado (VEN/Williams-Renault) 1:42.998, 10. Sergio Perez (MEX/Sauber-Ferrari) 1:43.106, 11. Bruno Senna (BRA/Williams-Renault) 1:43.191, 12. Nico Rosberg (GER/Mercedes-AMG) 1:43.200, 13. Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Force India-Mercedes) 1:43.255, 14. Michael Schumacher (GER/Mercedes-AMG) 1:43.267, 15. Paul di Resta (GBR/Force India-Mercedes) 1:43.578, 16. Kamui Kobayashi (JPN/Sauber-Ferrari) 1:43.689, 17. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:44.260, 18. Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA/Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:45.073, 19. Vitaly Petrov (RUS/Caterham-Renault) 1:45.245, 20. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/Caterham-Renault) 1:45.782, 21. Timo Glock (GER/Marussia-Cosworth) 1:46.589, 22. Charles Pic (FRA/Marussia-Cosworth) 1:46.671, 23. Pedro de la Rosa (ESP/HRT-Cosworth) 1:46.707, 24. Narain Karthikeyan (IND/HRT-Cosworth) 1:47.406