Abu Dhabi - Heikki Kovalainen pipped McLaren-Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to the fastest time in free practice Friday for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Hamilton recorded a time of 1 minute 43.939 seconds on the new 5.554-kilometre Yas Marina Ciruit in the first session but the 2008 world champion was upstaged in the afternoon by the Finn, who clocked 1:41.307 for a lap 0.197 seconds faster than the Briton.
With temperatures touching 35 degrees Celsius, newly-crowned drivers' champion Jenson Button of Brawn GP was third fastest with a deficit of 0.234 seconds ahead of Sunday's final GP race of the season.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was fourth on the day after registering a time 0.284 seconds slower than Kovalainen.
Button secured the world title at the penultimate race in Brazil two weeks ago but the race for second place is still very much alive with Vettel on 74 points, just two ahead of Button's teammate Rubens Barrichello, who finished fourth in the session.
