Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in the first free practice session ahead of the season-ending Abu Dhabi grand prix.

Hamilton’s fastest lap was roughly two tenths faster than that of his championship rival Nico Rosberg. The best of the rest was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who is running a special crash helmet design this weekend which is the Spaniard’s final outing with the Italian team.

Several test and reserve drivers got their opportunities to run some laps around the Yas Marina circuit and it was also a very warm welcome back to the embattled Caterham team. Regular driver Kamui Kobayashi and debutant Will Stephens are taking up the reigns for the team this weekend.

Sebastian Vettel led teammate Daniel Ricciardo as the two Red Bull drivers ended the session with the fourth and fifth fastest times respectively. There were quite a few gremlins in the system for several teams as both Williams, McLaren’s Jenson Button and Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne were felled by a variety of issues.

Top Ten Standings at the end of Free Practice 1:

1 Hamilton 1m43.476s
2 Rosberg 1m43.609s
3 Alonso 1m45.184s
4 Vettel 1m45.334s
5 Ricciardo 1m45.361s
6 Vergne 1m45.718s
7 Kvyat 1m45.835s
8 Bottas 1m45.913s
9 Perez 1m45.983s
10 Hulkenberg 1m46.030s