Sebastian Vettel shook off any last vestiges of a hangover on Friday afternoon when he clocked the fastest time ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber in the second free practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The newly crowned quadruple world champion, who is seeking to secure his seventh successive race victory, was third quickest in morning practice, but responded in style.
His fastest lap time of one minute and 41.335 seconds lifted him one-tenth of a second clear of Webber in a session run in cooling conditions and under dazzling floodlights at the ultra-modern Yas Marina Circuit.
The ambient temperature dropped by 14 degrees during the session after recordings of 35 degrees Celsius for the air and 46 for the track earlier in the day.
Briton Lewis Hamilton, who has always enjoyed and impressed at the Yas Marina, was third fastest for Mercedes ahead of Finn Kimi Raikkonen in the leading Lotus, German Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes and Mexican Sergio Perez of McLaren.
Briton Jenson Button was seventh in the second McLaren ahead of two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and German Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber with Brazilian Felipe Massa 10th in the second Ferrari.
Frenchman Romain Grosjean, who was fastest in morning practice, finished up down in 12th after twice being hit by braking problems.
Source: AFP
