Hamilton tops FP1 despite spin, with Red Bull close

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of first practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix despite spinning early in the opening session.

The defending champion, who needs to overturn a 12-point deficit to team-mate Nico Rosberg in order to retain the title, set the pace with a 1:42.869 to end the session 0.374s clear of Rosberg. It wasn't a completely smooth morning for Hamilton, however, as he suffered a spin at Turn 6 on a track relatively low on grip.

While a podium finish would be enough for Rosberg to win the title on Sunday, his second place in FP1 came with the two Red Bull drivers within 0.120s. Max Verstappen was third quickest - just 0.054s slower than Rosberg - with Daniel Ricciardo 0.065s further adrift of his team-mate.

The best times for Hamilton and the Red Bulls came on the soft compound tyre, with Rosberg failing to improve on an ultrasoft lap he had set earlier in the session, while his team-mate managed to do so. However, track conditions are unrepresentative with track temperature up at 36C, with the race itself starting four hours later than FP1 commenced.

Sebastian Vettel was fifth fastest for Ferrari, some 1.1 off the pace on soft tyres, while Sergio Perez managed to split the Ferrari pair in the competitive Force India on supersofts. Perez was 0.4s clear of Kimi Raikkonen, with Carlos Sainz, Felipe Massa and Marcus Ericsson rounding out the top ten, albeit with the latter two over two seconds adrift of Hamilton's time.

Alfonso Celis Jr was driving in FP1 in place of Nico Hulkenberg, with the Mexican ending the session in 11th place having used the ultrasoft tyre, just ahead of Romain Grosjean. It was another difficult session for Grosjean despite running the Carbon Industry brake pads and discs he was happier with in Brazil, with the Haas driver spinning at Turn 1, losing the rear of his car as soon as he touched the brakes.

Daniil Kvyat suffered left rear puncture after 20 minutes of the session while running on soft tyres. Faced with a full lap with a deflated tyre, the Russian eventually parked his Toro Rosso at Turn 8 as the tyre started to fall apart, ending his session after just four laps.

Alongside Celis Jr, Jordan King was making an FP1 appearance as he replaced Esteban Ocon at Manor. King was slowest of all drivers except Kvyat, ending the session 1.1s adrift of team-mate Pascal Wehrlein. The GP2 driver also suffered a spin at Turn 5, swapping ends and taking out a bollard on the inside of Turn 6.

Jenson Button - on what he expects to be his final F1 race weekend - was sandwiched between the two Manor drivers in 20th position, the 2009 world champion managing just ten laps in the McLaren. Button was 0.7s and two positions behind team-mate Fernando Alonso as McLaren made a slow start to he weekend.

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