Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the opening practice session at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Mercedes teammate and championship rival Nico Rosberg was second fastest with only 0.133 between the two Mercedes drivers.
Hamilton and Rosberg are separated by 17 points with the latter needing to win on Sunday to have a realistic chance of securing a maiden championship. On the other hand, Hamilton would only need a second placed finish and has started this weekend in the best way possible.
In his last weekend for Ferrari, Fernando Alonso was third ahead of the man who will replace him, Sebastian Vettel setting the fourth fastest time. Alonso was Mercedes’ nearest challengers however was 1.708 off Hamilton.
There were several driver changes as Esteban Ocon replaced Romain Grosjean at Lotus whilst Adderly Fong deputised for Adrian Sutil at Sauber. Toro Rosso endured a strong session as they were sixth and seventh fastest respectively.
Williams had a torrid day with both drivers suffering bodywork damage which ended both Massa and Bottas’ session early. Bottas was eighth fastest with Massa down in thirteenth.
After missing the previous couple of races, Caterham returned to the grid with Kamui Kobayashi and Will Stevens driving for the team. The latter would make his Formula One début this weekend and was slowest out of all twenty runners at the Yas Marina Circuit.
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