Rosberg expects tough weekend despite taking bagging rights from Hamilton

Nico Rosberg beat teammate Lewis Hamilton in the second free [ractice on Friday night at the Yas Marina Circuit.

 Nico Rosberg was flawless and took the bragging rights over Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the second free practice on Friday night but the German was not getting carried away saying that the Briton didn't play all his cards.
It was not just that Rosberg was worried about as he revealed that he was using an old engine, which may put him at a disadvantage, going into the business end of the race weekend here in Abu Dhabi.
Rosberg, who was second best to Hamilton in first practice, conjured a better run as the twilight set over the Yas Marina Circuit, the venue of the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
But the 30-year-old foresaw a tough weekend after he lost one of his engines to a coolant leak at the Italian Grand Prix in September.
"We know it's going to be difficult because I have an extremely old engine as a result of having lost my fourth engine for the year. So, I have a lot of miles on it and that's definitely costing me straightline speed," Rosberg said after practice on Friday night.
"It's going to be a difficult weekend as a result. But I just have to go quicker in the corners. The engine is very, very high mileage, very old, and this track is an engine track. Already in Brazil, it was difficult but this track is the ultimate engine track so here it costs even more lap time," he added.
And Rosberg also said that Hamilton held himself back and didn't reveal his true pace on the night.
"Lewis didn't show his pace on one lap. It's clear that he still has some in reserve. Today is not the real picture," said Rosberg.
Hamilton gave confirmation to what Rosberg had said and added that he might make some tweaks to the W06, going into qualifying on Saturday. Rosberg is currently on a hot streak with five successive pole positions this season.
"It's been a normal Friday. The track is behaving very similarly to last year so there's not much new to learn. I didn't get the best out of the tyres," said Hamilton.
"I made some changes to the car between the sessions and so far it's felt relatively good. The long run pace doesn't feel quite as strong so that's something I need to work on. I'll probably make some more tweaks tonight and hopefully tomorrow it will be better. It's very hard to overtake here, so of course it's better to be up on pole. But that doesn't mean it's impossible to win from further back," added the Briton.
Meanwhile, Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, who finished fourth in second practice after a seventh in the first, was pleased with the day's running.
"Today was a good day for us. This afternoon we made some adjustments with the set-up from this morning and the evening session is the one that reflects the conditions we will see in qualifying and the race," said Ricciardo.
"I was happy with the balance and think we were more or less where we want to be. As always, there's some fine tuning to do but I'm pleased with where we ended today. Force India were quick and surprisingly strong here. I'm happy with the car. Sure we can find a little bit more but probably not a whole lot. If we qualify top 5, we'll be happy," added the Australian.
Meanwhile, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel said that they have all the work to do after seeing Sahara Force India and Red Bull ahead of them. Vettel was fifth fastest in both sessions and is the only driver to challenge the Mercedes dominance this season with three race victories.
"All in all, it is Friday so I think we can still improve and we have to improve. We are a little too far behind, I would like the gap to be smaller and also the gap to be bigger compared to the cars behind. Force India is surprisingly quick and, so, there is a lot of work for us," said Vettel.
james@khaleejtimes.com