Lewis Hamilton topped the opening practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Friday afternoon, posting a lap of 1:43.754, three tenths down on his fastest lap in FP1 last season.
The Mercedes driver led his team-mate Nico Rosberg by just over a tenth, whilst Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen emerged as ‘best of the rest’, putting his Ferrari third, seven tenths back.
Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat split the Ferraris in fourth, whilst Nico Hulkenberg managed to get within a second of Hamilton’s best time, putting him sixth ahead of the second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.
Felipe Massa rounded out the top ten, narrowly ahead of his team-mate Valtteri Bottas in 11th place.
McLaren enjoyed an improved session which saw Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso finish 13th and 14th respectively. It looked as though it would be a trouble free session too, however with just two minutes remaining, Alonso reported an engine issue.
Jolyon Palmer took over Romain Grosjean’s seat for the session, but was limited to just nine laps due to a water leak early in the session.
2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Practice Times (FP1):
| # | Driver | Team | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
| 01 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:43.754 | 28 | |
| 02 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:43.895 | 0.141 | 32 |
| 03 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:44.500 | 0.746 | 27 |
| 04 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:44.702 | 0.948 | 23 |
| 05 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:44.742 | 0.988 | 23 |
| 06 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:44.751 | 0.997 | 22 |
| 07 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:44.893 | 1.139 | 26 |
| 08 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:44.934 | 1.180 | 27 |
| 09 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:45.314 | 1.560 | 29 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:45.433 | 1.679 | 20 |
| 11 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:45.603 | 1.849 | 22 |
| 12 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:45.718 | 1.964 | 32 |
| 13 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:45.773 | 2.019 | 15 |
| 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:45.865 | 2.111 | 20 |
| 15 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:46.115 | 2.361 | 20 |
| 16 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:46.220 | 2.466 | 21 |
| 17 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:46.407 | 2.653 | 29 |
| 18 | Jolyon Palmer | Lotus | 1:46.501 | 2.747 | 9 |
| 19 | Will Stevens | Marussia | 1:48.836 | 5.082 | 19 |
| 20 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia | 1:49.888 | 6.134 | 20 |
