Red Bulls relentless in free practice

Abu Dhabi: The Infiniti Red Bull continued their red-hot streak with four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel holding off teammate Mark Webber during the second practice session for the Etihad Airways Grand Prix here on Friday.

Throwing in the early challenge was defending champion in Abu Dhabi Kimi Raikkonen in his third-last race in a Lotus car with a splendid run that saw the Iceman set the fastest time of 1:41.888 followed by the two Red Bulls of Webber and Vettel.

However, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton ensured he displaced last year’s winner with a quick pace that improved the time to 1:41.690 with less than half an hour gone into the one and a half hour session.

Exactly midway, Vettel came to the fore with a lap of 1:41.434 followed by Webber’s time of 1:41.490, while Hamilton and Raikkonen slipped into third and fourth respectively. With the final 20 minutes remaining, Vettel used the softer Pirellis to improve his time to 1:41.335 — still away from the lap record of 1:40.279 that stands in his name since 2009 — while Webber, Hamilton, Raikkonen and Rosberg continued their unsuccessful chase of the champion.

Raikkonen’s Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean finished in a disappointing 12th place, while the Ferraris had another dismally slow run after Alonso was placed eighth and Massa followed in 10th.

Earlier during the first practice session, Lotus Team’s Grosjean had waited till the final five minutes to snatch the lead away from Mercedes’s Hamilton. The Frenchman led the pack with a best lap time of 1:44.241 followed by Hamilton just 0.192 seconds apart, while the two Red Bull cars of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Weber struggled a bit into third and fourth, respectively.

Hamilton’s teammate Rosberg was fifth best in a time of 1:44.741 followed by the Lotus car of Raikkonen in sixth. Hamilton’s car looked to be in control through the mid-part of the one and a half hour first practice. But with five minutes remaining Grosjean made his move and lapped the best time.

Vettel and Webber took their time to settle in lying in 13th and 14th at the half-way stage. But once the tyres were sufficiently steady Vettel was at the top in a time of 1:45.172 pushing early leader Grosjean into second and Sergio Perez into third.

Today, the third and one-hour final practice session at 2pm will be followed by the qualifying session between 5pm and 6pm to decide the grid positions for the start of Sunday’s only twilight race on the Formula One calendar.