It is a case of so far so good for Lewis Hamilton in his attempt to become a two-time Formula One world champion on Sunday.
A top-two finish in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit, regardless of the controversial double points on offer this weekend, will guarantee Hamilton the title.
Given Mercedes have scored one-twos in the last six races it would appear all that can stop Hamilton is either an accident or technical issue.
In practice today, Hamilton did all that was asked of him as he topped the timesheet at the end of both sessions, with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg naturally second best, as not for the first time this campaign no-one could hold a candle to the dominant duo.
At the conclusion of the first 90-minute session, in particular, the margin from Hamilton to Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in third was a staggering 1.7secs following soft-compound tyre runs.
Even McLaren's Jenson Button, potentially competing in the last race of his 15-season career as his future remains in limbo with McLaren not deciding on their driver line-up until after December 1, found the situation amusing.
With his car in the garage due to a technical fault, watching from the sidelines, Button tweeted: "Great to see @MercedesAMGF1 have got a lot of competition here in Abu Dhabi!! 1.7second gap!"
With Pirelli's supersoft rubber given an outing in the second session the margin of dominance was at least narrowed.
Hamilton finished a slender 0.083secs clear of Rosberg, with Kevin Magnussen in his McLaren the best of the rest at nearly three quarters of a second off the pace.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, now confirmed as a Ferrari driver for next season, and Williams' Valtteri Bottas, also managed to finish within a second of Hamilton.
Bottas and team-mate Felipe Massa had earlier sat out most of FP1 after the sidepod bodywork on the Finn's car had ripped off early in the session, whilst that on the Brazilian's car was found to be loose.
Bottas and Massa made up for lost time in FP2, with each completing 34 laps, although the latter was only 10th and 1.445secs off the pace.
In between the pair were Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen in his Ferrari, with Jenson Button eighth at least, albeit late on track given his earlier woes and managing only 23 laps, with Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat ninth.
For Alonso, from the relative high of third, the departing star who will return to McLaren for next season, slumped to the low of 20th and last without a time to his name.
Due to an electrical problem with his car, Alonso was forced to pull up in front of the Yas Viceroy hotel that straddles the circuit.
Ahead of him were the Caterham duo of Kamui Kobayashi and debutant Will Stevens in 18th and 19th respectively, the latter nearly five seconds behind fellow Briton Hamilton.
The Leafield-based team are back on the grid after being allowed to miss the last two races due to falling into administration.
With the team in the shop window, 23-year-old Essex racer Stevens had to wait until 15 minutes from the end of FP1 before finally savouring his first taste of F1 after encountering technical issues.
FP2 was more productive as he also completed 34 laps, and despite finishing 1.6secs behind team-mate Kobayashi, can at least be relatively satisfied with his first day as a F1 driver.