Fernando Alonso and Ferrari will be striving for that extra few seconds over the next few days and weeks as they look to win the World title.
Having sported a 42-point lead over Sebastian Vettel at one stage, Alonso now finds himself 13 points behind the Red Bull driver after the German won four races in a row.
With only three more races left in the season and the Red Bull looking unbeatable, Ferrari have been working hard in Abu Dhabi in an attempt to improve their car. The team broke the FIA curfew on Friday morning as they were "within the confines of the circuit during the six-hour period which commenced at 0400".
Alonso, though, still found himself off the pace of Vettel during the first two practice sessions at the Yas Marina on Friday.
However, the Spaniard believes they have improved and can put more pressure on Vettel over the weekend.
"We've tried to prepare for this race better than ever," said Alonso.
"We don't think we will close the gap completely to Red Bull, not from what happened in India (last weekend), in a matter of days.
"There is no magic button or magic part in Formula One, but we will try to get closer, to put some more pressure on them.
"They've had four very easy races lately. They have a lot of margin, and so they can make little mistakes without any penalty.
"We need to make the most of everything they don't do perfectly, and we need to find perfection ourselves these next three races, to be very close to them and attack the whole race."
Two years ago Alonso also found himself in the hunt for the World Championship, but a poor call from the pit wall saw him lose the title to Vettel in the final race at Abu Dhabi.
"Clearly we would like to win this Championship, and we would like to do it in Brazil," added Alonso.
"For that we need to compete at our maximum for these three races, to find extra time from every single person in the team, every single mechanic, engineer, with our pit stops, whatever.
"The revenge will be if we win in Brazil. If we can do it, it will be fantastic."
