Friday analysis – Hamilton off to a perfect start

The benign weather conditions enabled everyone to conduct their usual tyre testing and set-up work without interruption in Abu Dhabi on Friday. The gap between the softs and the supersofts was about 1.2s, though Pirelli expect that to come down to below a second as the track rubbers in. Two pits stops seem likely, though strategies may vary as teams gamble to try and take advantage of the double points here. What is certain is that there will be little to split the Mercedes cars of the two title contenders