Lewis Hamilton continues to set pace at Abu Dhabi GP practice

Mercedes-GP teammate Valtteri Bottas puts in improved performance after being off pace on Friday

Lewis Hamilton set a time of 1 minute, 37.627 seconds around Yas Marina Circuit on Saturday. Dan Istitene / Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton was fastest in final practice for the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Mercedes-GP driver, who has already wrapped up his fourth drivers’ championship, set a time of 1 minute, 37.627 seconds around Yas Marina Circuit as he completed set-up work for his bid to claim a 12th pole position of 2017 when qualifying takes place at 5pm.

Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas put in an improved performance, after being off the pace on Friday as he was second quickest, 0.273 seconds slower.

The Ferrari pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were third and fourth, with the Red Bull Racing pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen completing the top six.

There was a brief interruption mid-session when a Virtual Safety Car period after an umbrella blew onto the track at Turn 8.

Qualifying starts at 5pm.

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