Abu Dhabi GP: Valtteri Bottas leads Lewis Hamilton’s second practice in the F1 final

Watch the Abu Dhabi standings live starting at 1:00 PM. M. From Saturday, with preparation at Sky Sports F1 starting at noon; The final race of the 2020 Formula 1 season will take place this weekend with Lewis Hamilton back in action after recovering from Covid-19.

1:46

Flames erupted from the rear of Kimi Raikkonen’s car during FP2 before the Abu Dhabi GP.

Valtteri Bottas edged out returning Lewis Hamilton at the end of Friday’s final practice session of the 2020 season for the Abu Dhabi GP, in a session interrupted by a fire in Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo car.

Bottas, who endured a difficult Sakhir GP last week alongside George Russell, who was Hamilton’s backup, set the pace for his Mercedes teammate by 0.203s with a best lap under the Yas Marina spotlight of 1: 36,276.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third, 0.8 seconds behind Mercedes’ leading pace.

However, less could be read in the final performance than normal as, unusually, none of the top three completed nonstop rating simulations. Hamilton and Verstappen had their best lap times waived, while Bottas opened at turn one in what should have been his own fastest lap.

All teams faced further disruptions when the red flag was raised with 20 minutes to go when the rear of Raikkonen’s car caught fire and the Finn had to leave the track.

Marshals quickly put out the flames before Raikkonen, who had quickly got out of the burning car, took over the extinguisher and added some finishing touches, mindful of key areas of internals that the team wouldn’t want to burn.

0:56

George Russell appeared to have had an engine problem on his way back to the pits at Williams during FP2.

Moments earlier and Russel’s Mercedes-powered Williams had also been smoking, ending the Brit’s session early and the team quickly got to work on the FW43.

With teams using used engines for Friday’s session, the power units are inevitably at the end of their useful life after a 17-race campaign.

More to follow …