Max Verstappen posted the quickest time as the final weekend of the 2018 Formula 1 season got underway in Abu Dhabi.
Red Bull ran the Hypersoft tyre throughout the opening practice session, albeit in unrepresentative conditions, with the Dutchman posting a 1m38.491s to lead teammate Daniel Ricciardo by almost half a second.
Mercedes also used the pink-striped tyre initially and that gave them third and fourth with Valtteri Bottas leading Lewis Hamilton, albeit a full second off the leading pace.
Both drivers changed compounds after the mid-session lull, as Hamilton ran the Ultrasoft and Bottas the Supersoft, however, both would make key errors on their first attempted flying laps meaning they failed to improve.
The practice was also important to test the world champion’s engine which was damaged during the last race in Brazil and could be changed if the team feel it may not last the full event.
Esteban Ocon sat fifth for Force India ahead of Kevin Magnussen as Ferrari eased into the weekend with Kimi Raikkonen seventh and Sebastian Vettel eighth.
With temperatures much higher than expected come qualifying and the race, it made sense for the Scuderia to focus on aero work and saving engine mileage.
Carlos Sainz put Renault ninth with Romain Grosjean completing the top 10 in the Haas.
The session was pretty calm with a spin for Marcus Ericsson on the exit of Turn 1 the only significant incident, as the Swede damaged his front wing against the inside barrier.
Bottas and Verstappen also narrowly avoided the wall on the outside of the Turn 5-6 chicane after carrying too much speed.
A lot of attention though was on a new kerb installed at Turn 20 aimed at stopping drivers abusing track limits.
Unsurprisingly quite a few did run wide onto it, flicking the paint up and some cement, so it will be interesting to see if it stays in place for Saturday.
Two 2019 drivers also got important track time with their teams as Antonio Giovinazzi finished P16 in the Sauber.
Robert Kubica also made an appearance in the Williams, finishing some way off the pace and bottom of the timesheets but the team insists the Pole was on a different program meaning times were not important.
A full look at the standings in Practice 1 can be seen below:
