At the front, it was nip and tuck between Hamilton and Rosberg. The Briton was
initially one second quicker than Rosberg on his first flying lap, before
the German edged ahead. Both then traded fastest times before Hamilton went
fastest with a time of 1min43.4s, just over one-tenth quicker than his
team-mate.
Hamilton’s compatriot, Will Stevens, making his debut in F1 this weekend with
Caterham, was having less joy, more than seven seconds off the pace and
nearly three seconds behind his team-mate, Kamui Kobayashi.
Once the sun had set, it was a similar story for the Mercedes pair. Hamilton
was just eight-hundredths quicker in the 62nd practice session of the
season, but he will take that after a day on which he sounded generally
pleased with his progress.
If Hamilton wins a second title on Sunday, it will be a clean sweeps of
championships for Brits in top level motorsport this year. Alex Lynn, 22,
won the GP3 title on Friday and is touted as a replacement for Jean-Eric
Vergne at Toro Rosso. Joylon Palmer has already secured the GP2 title, as
has Anthony Davidson in the World Endurance Championship. No pressure on
Hamilton, then.
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s rivalry in 60 seconds