Lewis Hamilton took the top time from Nico Rosberg by little more than a tenth of a second after his team mate set the pace in the first half-hour of running.
It was a fairly quiet session during which several teams were clearly running with one eye on their 2016 preparations. Red Bull ran a large aero rig on their car and Ferrari used illuminated ride height sensors on Kimi Raikkonen’s chassis. Yesterday Fernando Alonso indicated half of his McLaren would be 2016 parts.
Raikkonen came closest to the Mercedes drivers’ pave but was almost three-quarters of a second slower. The next three drivers were separated by just five-hundredths of a second: Daniil Kvyat ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Nico Hulkenberg.
Having missed scrutineering yesterday Lotus managed to get both their cars on the track, although Jolyon Palmer’s only appeared in the final 20 minutes after a water leak was found on his car. He had a brief spin at one stage, but managed to complete eight laps.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’43.754 | 27 | |
| 2 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’43.895 | 0.141 | 31 |
| 3 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’44.500 | 0.746 | 27 |
| 4 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull-Renault | 1’44.702 | 0.948 | 23 |
| 5 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’44.742 | 0.988 | 23 |
| 6 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’44.751 | 0.997 | 22 |
| 7 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’44.893 | 1.139 | 25 |
| 8 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’44.934 | 1.180 | 27 |
| 9 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’45.314 | 1.560 | 28 |
| 10 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’45.433 | 1.679 | 19 |
| 11 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’45.603 | 1.849 | 22 |
| 12 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’45.718 | 1.964 | 32 |
| 13 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1’45.773 | 2.019 | 15 |
| 14 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’45.865 | 2.111 | 20 |
| 15 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’46.115 | 2.361 | 20 |
| 16 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’46.220 | 2.466 | 21 |
| 17 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’46.407 | 2.653 | 28 |
| 18 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’46.501 | 2.747 | 8 |
| 19 | 28 | Will Stevens | Manor-Ferrari | 1’48.836 | 5.082 | 19 |
| 20 | 98 | Roberto Merhi | Manor-Ferrari | 1’49.888 | 6.134 | 20 |
First practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’43.754
+0.141 Nico Rosberg – 1’43.895
+0.746 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’44.500
+0.948 Daniil Kvyat – 1’44.702
+0.988 Sebastian Vettel – 1’44.742
+0.997 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’44.751
+1.139 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’44.893
+1.180 Sergio Perez – 1’44.934
+1.560 Pastor Maldonado – 1’45.314
+1.679 Felipe Massa – 1’45.433
+1.849 Valtteri Bottas – 1’45.603
+1.964 Max Verstappen – 1’45.718
+2.111 Fernando Alonso – 1’45.865
+2.361 Felipe Nasr – 1’46.115
+2.466 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’46.220
+2.653 Marcus Ericsson – 1’46.407
+2.747 Jolyon Palmer – 1’46.501
+5.082 Will Stevens – 1’48.836
+6.134 Roberto Merhi – 1’49.888
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Top ten pictures from the 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Vote for your 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend
- Mercedes raise the bar with record-smashing 2015 season
- Rosberg denies Hamilton a winning end to his championship year
2015 F1 practice sessions
- Errors leave Hamilton behind Rosberg in final practice
- Rosberg edges Hamilton in second practice
- Mercedes comfortably ahead in first practice
- Two stoppages can’t keep Hamilton from top spot
- Mercedes wrap up Friday practice with almost a second in hand
sato113 (@sato113)
27th November 2015, 11:31
sky sports news were like- ‘Hamilton was having problems’ and showed a clip with a radio message about to pop up, but then the clip stopped. hmmm…
andrewf1 (@andrewf1)
27th November 2015, 13:30
As a Lewis fan – if Hamilton topped the session, shouldn’t there be a picture of him or his car at the top of the article instead of a smiling & increasingly annoying Nico Rosberg? (don’t take this comment too seriously)
RaceProUK (@)
27th November 2015, 16:41
I think that pic is Hamilton; Rosberg’s helmet is silver, IIRC.
andrewf1 (@andrewf1)
27th November 2015, 18:00
The pic has been changed. But thank you, @keithcollantine!
RaceProUK (@)
28th November 2015, 15:20
That would explain that :)
OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
27th November 2015, 16:41
@andrewf1 so you had your wish granted…
Understeer (@abdelilah)
27th November 2015, 17:53
@andrewf1 I had exactly the same tough when I first saw the picture, worst I tough Rosberg was ahead (yes I’m a LH fan :) )