Abu Dhabi GP. FP1 Report. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton secured top spot in the first ever practice session at the new Yas Marina circuit, finishing just ahead of the new world champion Jenson Button, as the usual suspects dominated things at the new track.So confident was Hamilton in his 1:43.939 that he didn't even bother coming out for a final run in the closing moments, choosing instead to put his feet up in the opulent new pit lane. Both Button's Brawn GP car and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel improved in the closing stages, but it wasn't enough to pip the 2008 champion.
Button ended second, giving the British drivers a 1-2 finish, while Vettel ended third, ahead of the second Brawn of Rubens Barrichello, with the pair of them fighting over second place in the standings this weekend.
Though the top four had a reassurringly normal look to it, The rest of the top ten was a bit more mixed up, with Nick Heidfeld giving himself a much-needed confidence boost with 5th in BMW Sauber's final race weekend, while Sebastien Buemi stormed to sixth place in the Toro Rosso at the end of the 90 minutes.
Adrian Sutil, who missed most of the session with brake problems, impressed in 7th place, keeping out of Jarno Trulli's way in the process, while the second Red Bull of Mark Webber, Jamie Alguersuari's Toro Rosso and Trulli himself completed the top ten.
Struggling in the session were some of the big guns, Ferrari looking low on pace as Kimi Raikkonen finished 15th and Giancarlo Fisichella ended 18th, while Renault could only manage 16th (Alonso) and 20th (Grosjean).
Williams also had a disappointing time, with Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima finishing 13th and 14th respectively, while Toyota stand-in Kamui Kobayashi could only end 19th fastest. Or second slowest, depending on how you look at it.
The rather green track was tricky throughout the session, with the slippy dusty conditions not helping the drivers to learn the rather dull layout. Button had a spin in the early stages, while Sutil, Barrichello and Fisichella all had minor incidents as they learned the limits of the Yas Marina track.
| FP1 Times | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Laps |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren - Mercedes | 1:43.939 | 18 |
| 2 | Jenson Button | Brawn - Mercedes | 1:44.035 | 20 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull - Renault | 1:44.153 | 28 |
| 4 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn - Mercedes | 1:44.207 | 23 |
| 5 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:44.667 | 23 |
| 6 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | 1:44.687 | 32 |
| 7 | Adrian Sutil | Force India - Mercedes | 1:44.688 | 14 |
| 8 | Mark Webber | Red Bull - Renault | 1:44.805 | 25 |
| 9 | Jamie Alguersuari | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | 1:44.955 | 33 |
| 10 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:44.958 | 25 |
| 11 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:44.988 | 22 |
| 12 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren - Mercedes | 1:45.123 | 20 |
| 13 | Nico Rosberg | Williams - Toyota | 1:45.649 | 27 |
| 14 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams - Toyota | 1:45.679 | 25 |
| 15 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:45.704 | 27 |
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:45.865 | 23 |
| 17 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India - Mercedes | 1:46.239 | 22 |
| 18 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Ferrari | 1:46.267 | 26 |
| 19 | Kamui Kobayashi | Toyota | 1:46.364 | 28 |
| 20 | Romain Grosjean | Renault | 1:46.411 | 27 |
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