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Abu Dhabi GP: Lewis Hamilton fastest in first practice session

Lewis Hamilton recorded the quickest time in the opening practice session for this weekend's Formula 1 title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The Mercedes driver set a laptime 0.133 seconds quicker than his team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Once again the two title protagonists dominated the top of the timesheets, with a 1.7-second margin over Fernando Alonso's Ferrari in third.

The two Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo were next up in fourth and fifth places respectively.

The Toro Rossos set the sixth and seventh quickest times with Jean-Eric Vergne lapping a tenth ahead of his team-mate Daniil Kvyat.

Valtteri Bottas was eighth, but just half an hour into the session he suffered an alarming moment when the engine bodywork was ripped off the right-hand side of his Williams at high speed.

His Williams team-mate Felipe Massa was also forced to pit with a similar problem and the team elected not to run again in the session. Massa was 13th.

Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10 in their Force Indias ahead of Kevin Magnussen's McLaren and the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

Another driver near the bottom of the timesheets was Jenson Button. He suffered a problem with his McLaren and could only manage eight laps in total, leaving him 17th.

Lotus was forced to replace one of its front wings after it was damaged by hitting a bird on track.

Briton Will Stevens was last on the timesheets in his first ever F1 session for Caterham.

His running was curtailed after just a single installation lap due to a suspected problem with his Renault power unit.

After a long fix, Stevens was able to resume the session with just over 10 minutes remaining.

Two other drivers made their practice debuts on Friday lunchtime at the Yas Marina circuit.

Formula 3 European champion Esteban Ocon stepped into Romain Grosjean's Lotus, while GP3 and sportscar racer Adderly Fong took over Adrian Sutil's Sauber.

Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m43.476s - 32
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m43.609s 0.133s 31
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m45.184s 1.708s 22
4 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull/Renault 1m45.334s 1.858s 30
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m45.361s 1.885s 23
6 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso/Renault 1m45.718s 2.242s 17
7 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Renault 1m45.835s 2.359s 32
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m45.913s 2.437s 8
9 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m45.983s 2.507s 23
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m46.030s 2.554s 24
11 Kevin Magnussen McLaren/Mercedes 1m46.049s 2.573s 23
12 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m46.131s 2.655s 23
13 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m46.549s 3.073s 7
14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber/Ferrari 1m46.556s 3.080s 28
15 Pastor Maldonado Lotus/Renault 1m46.711s 3.235s 31
16 Esteban Ocon Lotus/Renault 1m47.066s 3.590s 29
17 Jenson Button McLaren/Mercedes 1m47.235s 3.759s 8
18 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham/Renault 1m47.971s 4.495s 24
19 Adderly Fong Sauber/Ferrari 1m48.269s 4.793s 25
20 Will Stevens Caterham/Renault 1m50.684s 7.208s 14


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