Ahead of today's opening practice session the air temperature is 29 degrees C, while the track temperature is 37 degrees.

Because it is held earlier than either qualifying or the race, and in daylight, this session will have little bearing on the rest of the weekend, indeed some teams will probably use it to gather data for next season.

There are two reserve/test drivers on duty this morning, Jordan King at Manor and Alfonso Celis at force India. They replace Ocon and Hulkenberg respectively.

Kvyat is first out, followed by Palmer, Vettel, Magnussen and Nasr, the Ferrari and Toro Rosso drivers are running the Halo device once again.

Almost seven minutes into the session and the only no-shows are Verstappen and the Mercedes duo, who could well comprise the podium come Sunday.

"We're seeing a mixture of tyres out on track," says Pirelli, "soft, supersoft and ultrasoft. But don't read too much into the times here."

Finally Verstappen heads out, followed by Rosberg and... eventually, Hamilton.

On the ultrasofts, Rosberg posts the first time of what could be a historic weekend for him, crossing the line at 1:43.873. Hamilton responds with a 44.133/

While Celis is the third driver to post a time (47.678), this is subsequently beaten by Vettel (45.411) who is on softs.

The camera picks up on Bernie Ecclestone checking out Zak Brown in the McLaren garage, giving the new team boss his new pass.

Another puncture for Toro Rosso, Kvyat suffering a left-rear failure. To compound matters it fails just as he passes the pitlane entrance meaning he has to make his way around the entire track. However, such is the difficulty he has controlling the car as the tyre parts company with the rim he eventually opts to park it at T8.

Raikkonen goes fourth, on softs, ahead of Massa, Grosjean, Bottas and Sainz. However, when Ricciardo posts 45.245 (on softs), to go third, they are all demoted.

Hamilton raises the bar with a 43.051 while Rosberg improves to 43.243.

Camera picks up on a beautiful slide from Gutierrez, the Mexican doing well to keep it under control. Unlike King who has a dispute with a bollard after spinning off, the latter coming out best. "Sorry about that guys," he apologises.

A spin for Massa also, the Brazilian losing it in T5 with Hamilton having a similar moment shortly after.

Asked if there is still life in his (ultra) tyres, Perez admits: "I don't think so".

As the drivers head back to the pits to hand back a set of tyres, it's: Hamilton, Rosberg, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Perez, Vettel, Grosjean, Bottas and Massa.

During the lull Kvyat's car arrives on the back of a flatbed truck, which means we could yet see the Russian on track again.

Alonso, who has yet to post a time, is the first driver out after the lull, he immediately posts 46.673 to go 13th.

As Grosjean becomes the latest to make a mistake at T4, the Mercedes duo head out on softs, the hardest of the three compounds this weekend.

"I don't know why I've lost the car all of a sudden on the left-hand side," says Grosjean.

Shortly after the Frenchman does well to stay out of the barriers after spinning off at T1. "I don't know what happened," he says, "it's just the rear brake breaked. It needs to be sorted because it's not normal."

Button's session has come to an early end, the Briton is out of his car and his crew get to work. Shortly before hand the 2009 champion had been told to return to the pits "slowly".

On the softs, Hamilton raises the bar with a 42.86, placing 0.374 of daylight between himself and his teammate.

Verstappen improves (43.297), closing to within 0.428s of the pace-setter.

On the ultras, Celis improves to ninth with a 45.476.

As the McLaren crew work on Button's ERS issue, their opposite numbers at Renault appear to have solved Magnussen's water pressure issue.

While most are now on the softs, with less than ten minutes remaining, Sainz (supers) posts 44.685 to go 8th.

"So, Lewis improves on his ultrasoft time on the softs and Nico sets near identical times on each," tweets Mercedes.

Raikkonen queries the temperature of his right-rear, only to be told that there is an issue with a sensor and that the tyre temps are actually fine.

After a moment at T8, Gutierrez also appears to have brake issues. "I'm locking very easily," he reports, "every time I brake the car is moving."

A largely uneventful session ends with Hamilton quickest, ahead of Rosberg, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Vettel, Perez, Raikkonen, Sainz, Massa and Ericsson.

Celis is eleventh, ahead of Grosjean, Nasr, Gutierrez, Bottas, Palmer, Magnussen, Alonso, Wehrlein, Button, King and Kvyat.

Check out our Friday gallery from Abu Dhabi, here.