Lewis Hamilton is gunning for his second pole position at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Getty
Second, what seemed like a hydraulics problem, meant that defending world champion Sebastian Vettel spent the majority of the session in the Red Bull Racing pit garage and managed just seven laps in the session. The two McLaren drivers and Vettel's Red Bull teammate Mark Webber - who finished fourth behind the German - did 18, 17 and 18 laps in the hour long session, respectively.
The top ten was completed by the impressive Nico Hulkenberg in fifth, who will leave Force India for Sauber next year, Romain Grosjean, Pastor Maldonado, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Paul Di Resta.
Narain Karthikeyan recorded the 24th fastest time in his HRT F112, a little under 0.5 seconds slower than Spanish teammate Pedro De La Rosa.