» 2012 Abu Dhabi GP: McLaren leads the way in FP1

McLaren has claimed a 1-2 in Friday’s opening practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finishing up comfortably quickest of the field at the Yas Marina circuit.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel ended up third-fastest, with his chief championship rival Fernando Alonso just behind in fourth place.

No less than five reserve drivers took part in the ninety-minute session, with Williams’ perennial ‘Man Friday’, Valtteri Bottas, emerging comfortably quickest, while Jules Bianchi (Force India), Giedo van der Garde (Caterham) and Qing Hua Ma (HRT) also having further outings for their respective teams.

Making his Grand Prix debut this weekend was British driver Max Chilton in the Marussia. The Surrey-born driver took over Charles Pic’s car for the session, working through a series of programs for the Sheffield-based team before he hands over the car for the evening’s activities.

Van der Garde, meanwhile, had a disappointing session. The Dutch GP2 driver was sidelined after just three tours of the five-kilometre circuit when his Caterham suffered an engine failure.

Hamilton’s session-topping effort came with a little under half an hour to run in the session, while Button closed to within one-third of a second of his team-mate on his final flying lap of the session.

Behind the top-four came Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher, closely followed by Pastor Maldonado, Nico Rosberg, and the Finnish pairing of Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen, who lost some running in the session when he was hit by a puncture.

The session saw little in the way of incident, although Sergio Perez had a major scare when he attempted a full-speed pit entry arrival, only to suffer a huge slide as he slewed towards the pit wall. Fortunately he managed to avoid any contact, and continued on another tour of the circuit without any further drama in his Sauber.

2012 Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes MP4-27	1:43.285		21
2.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-27	1:43.618	+ 0.333	19
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing Renault RB8	1:44.050	+ 0.765	23
4.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F2012	1:44.366	+ 1.081	21
5.	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing Renault RB8	1:44.542	+ 1.257	22
6.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes AMG F1 W03	1:44.694	+ 1.409	23
7.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Renault FW34	1:45.115	+ 1.830	26
8.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG F1 W03	1:45.194	+ 1.909	19
9.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Renault FW34	1:45.347	+ 2.062	25
10.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1 Renault E20	1:45.422	+ 2.137	15
11.	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari F2012	1:45.567	+ 2.282	24
12.	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India Mercedes VJM05	1:45.587	+ 2.302	20
13.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber Ferrari C31	1:45.722	+ 2.437	20
14.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Renault E20	1:45.743	+ 2.458	20
15.	Jules Bianchi	Force India Mercedes VJM05	1:45.769	+ 2.484	22
16.	Sergio Pérez	Sauber Ferrari C31	1:45.811	+ 2.526	22
17.	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR7	1:46.649	+ 3.364	24
18.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR7	1:46.708	+ 3.423	26
19.	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham Renault CT01	1:47.418	+ 4.133	23
20.	Timo Glock	Marussia Racing Cosworth MR01	1:47.891	+ 4.606	21
21.	Pedro de la Rosa	HRTF1 Cosworth F112	1:48.354	+ 5.069	22
22.	Max Chilton	Marussia Racing Cosworth MR01	1:48.887	+ 5.602	22
23.	Qing Hua Ma	HRTF1 Cosworth F112	1:50.487	+ 7.202	20
24.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham Renault CT01	no time		3