Lewis Hamilton played down his chances of preventing Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel from claiming pole position at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Despite topping the times after first practice and running only one-tenth of a second off the 25-year-old German’s pace in the second session, Hamilton said he had struggled with his car, notably on the softer tyres.
He added that there had been no significant upgrades for his McLaren car and that his only real hope of taking pole rested on Vettel making mistakes.
Hamilton said: “If we get pole it will be fantastic, but we shouldn’t get our hopes up -- Sebastian has a faster car. Nothing has changed. We have not improved so I don’t know why anyone thinks we can beat them (Red Bull). It’s not the case."
“The reason I say that is because the last four races have been won by a certain guy and (his) car is very quick around here, but I’m going to give it my all, everything I can, and hope maybe his lap isn’t so great and mine is. If we get ahead it will be a huge bonus for us.”
Hamilton was six-tenths faster than his McLaren team-mate and Jenson Button, in third place.
He added that he was happy with his car on the harder ‘prime’ tyres.
