Bottas fastest in second Abu Dhabi practice session
Valtteri Bottas topped the times, but it was a feisty Red Bull team who were happiest on Friday after a surprisingly tense day of opening practice for Sunday's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
After a so far winless season, Bottas is desperate to repeat his victory of 2018 for Mercedes at the Yas Marina circuit and proved his speed and determination with a strong showing under the lights in the second session.
His best lap of one minute and 37.236 seconds was good enough to lift him 0.044 seconds clear of Max Verstappen in the leading Red Bull with Renault-bound Daniel Ricciardo third-quickest in the second –- a performance that endorsed their morning practice showing when they were the two quickest.
"It's nice to be on top," said Bottas. "But we need to build on that and try and make the right set-up change and I also need to find more performance from myself.
"My goal for the weekend is to repeat last year's result, but there's still plenty of work to do."
New five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was fourth in the other Mercedes ahead of the two Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, who is seeking his first win in eight outings dating back to the Belgian Grand Prix.
"Red Bull looked quick today," said Hamilton. "They're usually fast in practice and in the race, so I have no doubts it will be the same this weekend."
After two rapid performances Verstappen was in bullish mood, keen to look ahead rather than dwell on events two weeks ago when he had a post-race shoving match with Esteban Ocon, blaming the Force India driver for costing him victory in Brazil.
"The car, definitely in the last sector and most of the corners on the track, is working really well," he said.
"We don't need to turn up or completely change the set-up because it's working so well."
The Ferraris were less happy with Vettel finishing just behind Raikonnen in each session.
"We are not quick enough yet," said Vettel. "This weekend will be decided by tyres and Red Bull have been strong on their tyres in the last couple of races. We are not entirely happy. We should be ok, but it will be tough and tight."
Former Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was even further down the field in his McLaren, with Robert Kubica the slowest driver in the opening session, the day after his return to the grid for Williams next season was announced.
Two-time world champion Alonso, who is taking part in his final Grand Prix, was four seconds off the pace in the first session but improved in the second session to finish 13th quickest, one and a half seconds shy of Bottas.