Lewis Hamilton hit back at title rival Max Verstappen to top the time sheets at the end of the first day’s action for Abu Dhabi’s championship showdown Grand Prix.
The young Dutchman had been fastest in the first session earlier in the day while Hamilton was third.
But when the flag fell after dark for second practice, it was the seven-time champion who got his nose in front.
And there was a whopping 0.6 seconds to his Red Bull rival in fourth.
As the title rivals turned up the gas, both had laps deleted for going off the track.
Between the duo was Esteban Ocon in second and Mercedes' second driver Valtteri Bottas in third.
That made it one session apiece on the first day for the pair as they prepare for the final round on Sunday.
But there is plenty more to come from both drivers as the practice days are used to set up the car and get used to the redesigned track.
In the early, hour-long session, Mercedes had admitted that they were struggling to set their car up for the new, faster layout.
After 21 rounds of the world championship, they are dead level in points. But Verstappen has a significant advantage.
If the rivals crash out together, as they have twice already this season, it will make the Red Bull racer the champion as the championship will go to a countback on wins — and Verstappen has one more.
But the stewards have specifically said that dubious tactics could be met with a points deduction or even being slapped with a ban for a year or more.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner said on Friday there was everything to play for.
“Mercedes look very competitive here, especially the first two sectors, but we come back to them in the third one.
“But we have 24 hours to come up with a solution.”
And he repeated his plea for consistency in stewarding decisions and punishments because his racer feels he is being unfairly punished by stewards after receiving two time penalties at the last race in Saudi Arabia.
“Again, it just comes back to whether you want consistency of rules” Horner said.
“What happened in Turn 4 [in Brazil], what happened wherever it was, should be applied to this race.
“You can't just go and pluck something out of the air and say, ‘yep, that's what will now apply’. That would make a mockery of the policing of the championship.
“This championship has been a pressure cooker and that’s why we go racing. Max has been just amazing. Let’s see if we can do something a bit magic on Sunday.
“I’ve told the team whatever happens, we can be amazingly proud of what we’ve achieved.”
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
More on Quran memorisation:
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
England's all-time record goalscorers:
Wayne Rooney 53
Bobby Charlton 49
Gary Lineker 48
Jimmy Greaves 44
Michael Owen 40
Tom Finney 30
Nat Lofthouse 30
Alan Shearer 30
Viv Woodward 29
Frank Lampard 29
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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MATCH INFO
Manchester City 1 Chelsea 0
De Bruyne (70')
Man of the Match: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
