21/11/2014
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's opening practice session the air temperature is 27 degrees C, whilst the track temperature is 44 degrees.
Tyres available this weekend are soft and supersoft, a step down on last year's medium and soft.
There are two DRS zones. The detection point for the first is 40m before T7 with activation 390m after T7, whilst the second detection point is 50m after T9 with activation at T10.
Having missed the last two races Caterham returns to the grid, thanks to the success of its crowd funding project, with Kamui Kobayashi joined by British rookie Will Stevens.
There are two test drivers in action today, Esteban Ocon replacing Grosjean at Lotus and Adderley Fong replacing Sutil at Sauber.
The lights go green and so begins possibly the most important weekend of the F1 year, not just for the two title combatants but those drivers (and teams) still unsure of the future, unclear as to whether this is their last race or not.
First out is Perez, followed by Kobayashi, Bottas, Vergne and Gutierrez.
Returning to his garage Gutierrez slides to a halt and clops a couple of mechanics in the process.
Five minutes into the session all but the Red Bulls have been out.
Even though the teams are testing here next week a number of cars are sporting sensors. Magnussen is one of the drivers running with sensors, the Dane trying a new front wing courtesy of former Red Bull designer Peter Prodromou. Elsewhere, teammate Capt. No Grip complains of "very low grip" in the pitlane.
Ten minutes into the session and there is nobody - nobody - on track. Then again, this has become the norm here as no other session is held this early in the day. (13:00 local time).
Eventually Maldonado, Kvyat, Ocon, Fong, Bottas and Vergne head out.
Maldonado gets the weekend underway with a 1:48.739. Shortly after, Fong posts 53.867.
As Hamilton begins his first flying lap of the weekend, Bottas goes quickest with a 46.601.
Kobayashi is told that there is no telemetry and that the team therefore has no information on 'vital signs' such as tyre temperatures.
Hamilton posts 53.375, the Briton taking it easy, whilst teammate Rosberg heads straight to the top of the sheets with a 46.028.
No sooner has Bottas posted 45.913 than Hamilton bangs in a 45.141.
"Not the start we wanted for Will Stevens," admits Caterham, "he's had to jump out of car. We will find out what problem is and update you as soon as possible."
Button, Raikkonen and Magnussen, along with Stevens, remain the only drivers yet to post a time.
Game on! Rosberg goes quickest with a 44.860 as Hamilton goes purple in S2 but ultimately fails to improve.
Stevens' session appears to be over before it even began, Caterham confirming that it has "detected a technical problem".
Problems for Williams. As Massa reports a loose piece of bodywork, a very large chuck of the sidepod falls from teammate Bottas' car under braking for T11. Pat Symonds leaps into action with the crew.
All of which happens just before the end of the opening thirty minutes at which point the 'free' set of prime tyres have to be handed back.
Of course, the Williams duo is one of Rosberg's best hopes of thwarting Hamilton's title bid.
Ocon has incurred some damage at the front of the Lotus - right between the two 'nose prongs', thought to be due to 'bird strike'.
After thirty minutes, it's: Rosberg, Hamilton, Bottas, Alonso, Vettel, Massa, Perez, Kvyat, Vergne and Ricciardo. Stevens and Magnussen yet to post a time.
Vettel heads out, followed by Vergne and Ocon.
"Valtteri won't be back out in FP1 as the team need to repair the fixings on the chassis after bodywork came off," reveals Williams. "Team assessing Felipe's car."
Despite clearly struggling to keep his car on the black stuff, Vergne improves to fifth with a 46.276.
Vettel improves to third (45.334) and Kvyat fifth (45.987) as Vergne continues to struggle with the Toro Rosso.
Button's session appears to be over, the Briton is out of his car which is then engulfed by mechanics.
Rosberg improves but so too does teammate Hamilton, the Briton going quickest with a 43.799.
Vettel and Magnussen get up close and very personal after the Dane appears to get in the way of the German. The world champion waves his fist in frustration.
Kvyat reports a problem with his tyres in T1, "they are not ready," he barks.
Rosberg retakes the top spot with a 43.609, only to be demoted again when Hamilton posts 43.476, 0.113s clear of his teammate.
"Fixings on both chassis need repairing so Felipe not expected to be back on track this session either," confirms Williams, "engineers adjusting plans for FP2."
Magnussen, running the new front wing, improves to ninth (46.049) as Ocon takes a long, long detour at T1.
The closest opposition to the Mercedes duo thus far, in the absence of the Williams duo, is Alonso who is 1.708s down on Hamilton. The Red Bull duo are fourth and fifth, both over 1.8s off the pace.
Kobayashi leapfrogs Fong to go 18th (48.006), as teammate Stevens finally looks set to head out again.
Focus now switches to longer runs on high fuel, as it always does.
With 17:00 remaining, Stevens is finally back on track.
"Great to see Mercedes have got a lot of competition here in Abu Dhabi!!," tweets Jenson Button "1.7second gap!" Of course, the Briton is able to tweet mid-session thanks to a technical issue with his car.
Stevens finally gets his name on the board, crossing the line at 2:01.423. He subsequently improves to 1:55.150.
"Tough start to the weekend for me with no proper running in FP1," tweets Button, "but we'll find our feet pretty quickly in FP2 don't you worry!!"
"Downshifts are horrible," complains Vettel. "Look at T7," he warns his team.
Having traced an aero problem that affected them in recent races, Force India looking a little stronger today, Perez currently ninth just ahead of teammate Hulkenberg.
Still out on track, Vettel reports that his downshift is now much better.
The session ends with Hamilton quickest ahead of Rosberg, Alonso, Vettel, Ricciardo, Vergne, Kvyat, Bottas, Perez and Hulkenberg.
Magnussen, Raikkonen, Massa, Gutierrez, Maldonado, Ocon, Button, Kobayashi, Fong and Stevens.
The session ends with the drivers trialling a new 80km/h speed limit test for a couple of laps, another move under consideration for 2015 in the wake of Jules Bianchi's crash in Japan.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.