Abu Dhabi Grand Prix offers few fireworks in first practice sessions as season approaches its end

The first two practice sessions for the final round of a gruelling 2017 F1 season were curiously contained affairs in Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina on Friday, almost as if everything was quiet on the Middle Eastern Front.

Of course the drivers were pushing as hard as ever, but with colds and chest infections abounding in the paddock there is no disguising that a lot of the protective adrenaline that keeps everyone in check and straining to their utmost may be heavily depleted at this late hour.

“We are relieved that the main battles are over,” one Mercedes insider vouchsafed. “Of course, if they weren’t we’d all still be high on adrenaline and pushing, pushing, pushing, panicking as hard as ever while trying to look like we were in control…” In other words, business as usual, just as it would be in every camp.

Instead, Mercedes took the chance to run a raft of 2018 development parts on the cars of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in the first session, in which Sebastian Vettel eventually pipped his English rival by 0.120s of a second with 18 minutes remaining.

With the two Mercedes back in 2017 specification in the later evening session – this is a twilight event, remember – Hamilton reversed that to lead Vettel by 0.149s.

In both cases they were chased by a Red Bull: Max Verstappen’s in the first, 0.148s down on Vettel, and Daniel Ricciardo’s in the second, 0.303s in arrears.

Wearing a spiffy new gold leaf helmet to commemorate his fourth world championship, Hamilton said it had been a good Friday, but admitted: “I’m glad it’s the last one of the season.

“We got lots of laps in today and made good progress with the balance of the car. We have a bit of work to do, but I feel like we’re quite competitive here. It’s relatively close still, but I like that.”

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Vettel said he’d enjoyed a strong day, but, as usual, preferred to wait and see what extra progress Ferrari can spring overnight, while the Red Bull boys were happy but resigned to the fact that Mercedes and Ferrari will outgun them with their superior engine qualifying modes on Saturday evening while hoping to be competitive in the race.

If one thing can be sure here, it’s that most will be going for the win-or-bust mode. It’s the last race of the year, and you have to go down to sixth place to find a fight, with Toro Rosso sitting four points ahead of their engine supplier Renault’s own team. Renault have pretty much decided to give it their best shot to find the five-point advantage they need to cement sixth, while the American Haas team are further back, but intent on exploiting whatever chances come their way.

And in the middle of it all, there was little Felipe Massa getting ready for the retirement that had beckoned this time last year until Nico Rosberg’s sudden departure in his own hour of achievement.

“It felt like a normal Friday in so many ways,” Massa said. “Until I realised that next March I’ll look back and remember that it was the last one I did in an F1 car…”