Lewis Hamilton: It's been a good Friday

World champion Lewis Hamilton set the pace ahead of Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel on the opening day of practice for tomorrow's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton drives his Mercedes car during practice for the Abu Dhabi GP at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi yesterday. Pics/AFP

The Mercedes driver lapped the Yas Marina circuit in a time of one minute one minute 37.877 seconds, set under the floodlights in the second of the day's two sessions. It was the fastest ever lap recorded at the 5.5-kilometer track and was enough to beat Vettel, who had topped the timesheets in the first afternoon session, by 0.149 seconds. "It's been a good Friday," said Hamilton, racing with a helmet adorned with gold leaf this weekend, after the session. "We have a bit of work to do, but I feel like we're quite competitive here. It's relatively close but I like that."

Hamilton has already won this year's championship, the fourth of his career, clinching it two races ago in Mexico, while Mercedes have won the constructors' crown.

Yesterday, Max Verstappen was third in the opening session, just 0.148 seconds off Vettel's best. Teammate Daniel Ricciardo displaced the 20-year-old in the evening to end the day third quickest with a lap just 0.303 seconds slower than Hamilton's benchmark. Verstappen went sixth fastest in the second session while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was fourth quickest.