- Abu Dhabi GP - FP2
Hamilton: No added pressure for pole
Lewis Hamilton says he does not feel under pressure to convert his impressive Friday into pole position tomorrow after the perfect start to his title showdown with Nico Rosberg in Abu Dhabi.
Hamilton edged team-mate Rosberg in both sessions, with 0.083s separating them on the crucial qualifying simulations in FP2 after Mercedes enjoyed a huge 1.7s advantage in the first session. Pole position would put Hamilton in control of his own destiny even though he only needs to finish second to claim the title, but he says his approach will remain the same this weekend.
When asked if he felt any pressure going into Saturday qualifying, Hamilton said: "Not really, no, there's no pressure in that sense. I've just got to drive the way I usually drive and what will be will be. It's not like you have to do it or you don't have to do it, I'm just going to do the best I can.
"The car feels very good, it's the best car I've ever driven here which is good. I generally really enjoy driving this track. The balance we had today is something we can still improve but otherwise this is a remarkable job by Mercedes to arrive at the circuit with the gap, it's a true showing of how amazing this team is."
While other teams seemed to be struggling with consistency, both Hamilton's long runs on the soft and super soft tyre were impressive in the evening session. Hamilton is encouraged by Friday but thinks there is plenty more to come.
"What can I say, it's as it looks on the board. Mainly the long runs, I got the whole session which is great. There were good steps forward with set up but as always there's still time to find. So far I'm on the right step so I'm going to keep working away at it. You're just chipping away at it all weekend and trying to improve. Today has been a good day but I still need to work and try and improve."
Most impressive for Hamilton was how his car coped on the option tyre.
"My super softs were lasting for a long time, actually. [Mercedes] said at the start of the run they were dropping off massively very early on but my tyres weren't really a huge problem, they had some graining but not that bad."
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