F1-EL1: Hamilton ahead of Rosberg in Abu Dhabi

Lewis Hamilton set the benchmark time for the first practice session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina by setting a time of 1'43"476. The Championship leader was a tenth ahead of his rival Nico Rosberg, the only opponent to keep pace with the 2008 world champion. Fernando Alonso is the closest to the W05 even if it is already more than a second behind. The future ex-pilot Ferrari anticipated the Red Bull de Sebastian Vettel et Daniel Ricciardo grouped in less than three hundredths, which precede the Toro Rosso of Jean-Éric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat more than two seconds behind the reference time. The Frenchman nevertheless encountered a battery problem at the end of the session.

Valtteri Bottas finished the session in eighth place even though he only completed eight laps after a pontoon from his Williams was torn away. The Finn beat the Force India of Sergio Pérez and Nico Hulkenberg and McLaren de Kevin Magnussen who almost clashed with Sebastian Vettel by cutting him off. The Dane is ahead of Kimi Räikkönen, Felipe Massa and Esteban Gutiérrez. The Lotuses are still behind with Pastor Maldonado 15th in front Esteban Ocon. The reigning champion of the F3 European Championship, which carried out its first free practice session as part of a Grand Prix, made a promising start, finishing just two tenths behind the Venezuelan.

The resident of the Lotus F1 Team Junior finished ahead of the McLaren of Jenson Button who was only able to complete eight laps before being stuck in the pits following a problem identified with his MP4-29. The Caterhams finished at the bottom of the standings with the Sauber of Adderly Fong replacing Adrian Sutil for his first test session. The Hong Konger was luckier than Will Stevens, Caterham's new recruit for this weekend, who was only able to complete 14 laps.

The second practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be contested from 14 p.m. Paris time.