Lewis Hamilton topped the relatively quiet first practice session in Abu Dhabi, ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was less than half a tenth of a second behind Rosberg.
With conditions not entirely representative of the competitive sessions tomorrow and Sunday, the session was relatively quiet as drivers re-familiarised themselves with the track. Two young drivers were testing in the session: Alfonso Celis replaced Nico Hulkenberg for the hour and a half session at Force India, whilst Jordan King replaced Esteban Ocon at Manor. Celis was keen to get the ball rolling, one of the first to set a lap time at the start of the session. Later on in the session, Celis managed to sneak into the top ten briefly, and eventually finished the session eleventh. King had a slightly more disappointing session, finishing twenty first.
A few drivers had trouble in the session. A puncture in the left rear tyre of Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso caused concern. The Red Bull junior team has seen multiple punctures over the season, with Pirelli always keen to point out it’s not a paddock wide problem. The cause of the puncture is still unknown. Kvyat stopped on track after only four laps, out of the way so the session was not stopped.
Romain Grosjean also faced problems in the session and, again, it was something the Haas has seen multiple times this season. The Frenchman locked up in the later part of the session and continued straight on, brake problems obvious. Grosjean complained over the radio that the “rear brake breaked” and he didn’t know what happened.
Hamilton will be pleased with the result, finishing about four tenths of a second ahead of his teammate, whilst Rosberg wasn’t far ahead of the Red Bull duo, who finished third and fourth. But he knows the session doesn’t guarantee anything, especially with conditions so unrepresentative. Later on in the weekend, we’ll really be able to get a clear idea of what will happen in the final race of the championship.
