Abu Dhabi GP: Hamilton outpaces Rosberg in FP1

In an uneventful 90 minutes of running, Hamilton posted a best time of 1:43.754 to outpace Rosberg by 0.141 seconds as the Mercedes duo dominated the session.

Kimi Raikkonen was third quickest in the Ferrari, but over seven tenths behind Hamilton.

Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Force India's Nico Hulkenberg were the only other two drivers within a second of the world champion's time.

Daniel Ricciardo finished in seventh place in the second Red Bull, ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Force India.

Pastor Maldonado (Lotus) and Williams driver Felipe Massa completed the top 10 runners.

The start of the session saw several teams attaching all kinds of sensors to their cars, with Ferrari going one step further and fitting what looked like laser sensors at the bottom of Raikkonen's SF15-T.

Rosberg was the first man to appear in the timesheets over 10 minutes after the start, as most drivers spent the early part of the session doing aero testing.

With the track very dirty, the times improved quickly and Rosberg established himself on top with a lap of 1:44.102 before Hamilton beat that over 23 minutes into the session with the first lap in the 1:43s.

But Rosberg improved once more - to a 1:43.895 - before the half-hour mark to regain P1 before the action stopped.

Hamilton returned to first place with 31 minutes left on the clock, setting a new best of 1:43.754 that would remain unbeaten. 

Red Bull drivers Ricciardo and Kvyat, Vettel and Sauber's Felipe Nasr did not set a time in the first half the session, while Jolyon Palmer did not take to the track until the final minutes.

Scheduled to replace Romain Grosjean in the Lotus, Palmer could only run in the dying minutes as his car was not ready in time following yesterday's delays.

The Briton finished in 18th after a late spin, outpacing the Manors of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi, returning to the cockpit to replace Alexander Rossi.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:43.754		27
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:43.895	+0.141	31
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:44.500	+0.746	26
4	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing	1:44.702	+0.948	23
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:44.742	+0.988	22
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:44.751	+0.997	22
7	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:44.893	+1.139	25
8	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:44.934	+1.180	27
9	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team	1:45.314	+1.560	28
10	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:45.433	+1.679	19
11	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:45.603	+1.849	22
12	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:45.718	+1.964	32
13	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:45.773	+2.019	15
14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:45.865	+2.111	20
15	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:46.115	+2.361	20
16	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	1:46.220	+2.466	21
17	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:46.407	+2.653	28
18	Jolyon Palmer	Lotus F1 Team	1:46.501	+2.747	8
19	Will Stevens	Manor	1:48.836	+5.082	19
20	Roberto Merhi	Manor	1:49.888	+6.134	20