While little more than bragging rights are up for grabs for Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, being the last driver to take the top step is still of importance to them. Already with one eye on next year, both are aware that whatever happens at Yas Marina on Sunday they go into 2018 as the two favourites for the title and in doing so have the chance to match a remarkable record.

With Hamilton having secured this year’s world championship the pair have four apiece. Should one of them win it next season, he will have equalled Juan Manuel Fangio’s five and both drivers share the reverence afforded the great Argentinian and understand what an achievement it would be to match him.

“He’s just a leading icon in motor sport,” said Hamilton. “He’s the driver that I think everyone admires most, perhaps being that it was in the most dangerous period of time in motor sport. To even be as close as we are, I feel very honoured to be this close to such a great sporting icon. If anything I think he should be celebrated more for his success. It’s not really mentioned a huge amount. Often you hear about Ayrton [Senna] and [Alain] Prost but I feel he’s the godfather of the sport in terms of the drivers.”

Fangio won his five titles between 1951 and 1957, in an F1 career that spanned only eight years. With far fewer races in a season he holds the highest percentage of wins, 46.15%, with victories in 24 of 51 starts. Sir Stirling Moss, who finished second to the Argentinian in the championship between 1955 and 1957, described him as the best there has ever been.

Moss’s opinion was one Vettel admired. “I had the pleasure to chat with Stirling Moss,” he said. “As a racing driver you always tend to think you are the best, otherwise there’s not much point but, if you reach a point where you say, ‘That guy was just better than me’, it says a lot and, if you look at Stirling’s record, I think it has been incredible, not just in Formula 1 but in all the other categories. So Fangio must have been really, really special. I think he’s probably the best we’ve ever had in terms of putting it together, in terms of skill, in terms of how brave they were at the time.”

Matching Fangio remains a way off for now but both drivers are aware that it is well within their grasp and heading into the winter break with that final momentum is something they want to grasp in Abu Dhabi. Each driver already has three wins at Yas Marina and both have been bullish about their desire to make it four but, for Hamilton, there is perhaps more of a point to be made. An uncharacteristic error in qualifying at the last round in Brazil proved costly and he could finish only fourth to Vettel’s win. Equally he has yet to win a grand prix in a season after he has taken the title before the finale. Proving there has been no let-up in focus as he has stressed is the case will also be a consideration.

Vettel was quickest in first practice but, with the race a day-night meeting, the opening session, which took place in daylight, was not wholly representative of track conditions. In the second session at twilight and running a qualifying simulation Hamilton had the edge, just over a tenth of a second up on the German.

Turning the times into strong qualifying will be key. Yas Marina is a notoriously difficult track at which to overtake. The somewhat uninspiring circuit offers little for drivers to enjoy and, with the aero-regulations making passing tricky, on-track moves are likely to be few and far between.

The opening three corners are the best part of the lap – fast and flowing – but they are followed by two long straights and then a tight, low-speed final sector that is processional at best.

Although the constructors’ championship has already been claimed by Mercedes, there are still some results to be decided in Abu Dhabi. While Vettel has second place all but secured against Valtteri Bottas, his Ferrari team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen, trails Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo by only seven points for fourth. In the midfield significant financial rewards are up for grabs as three teams, Toro Rosso, Renault and Haas, who are separated by six points, chase sixth place.