Mclaren continue to challenge Red Bull dominance as Button tops FP1 in Abu Dhabi

Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit - Free Practice Session 1 Result

As it comes to nearly an end of the 2011 season, Teams are already gearing up for young driver tests only to announce their driver's lineup for 2012 season.

There were three young drivers namely 2010 Formula 3 champion Jean - Eric Vergne, GP2 Asia Series and GP2 Series Champion Romain Grosjean and Formula Renault 3.5 Series Champion Robert Wickens. Jean who had already test driven for Toro Rosso in 2010, completed the first practice session at 11th, Romain Grosjean is already a part of F1 from last 3years and Robert Wickens debut for Virgin and finished the session in 23rd.

 

Jenson Button tops the chart as he beats his teammate Lewis Hamilton in the final stages. Lewis and Jenson are swapping the top place until the last few minutes as Button leads from the top as Mark Webber sandwich between the two Mclaren's.

World Champion finished the session 4th only 4tenth of a second slower than Button leading Mclaren. Fernando Alonso continue to keep struggling Ferrari on the toes of the leading Red Bull and Mclaren.

Felipe Massa followed his teammate for 6th. German Adrian Sutil put up again a strong performance as he finished the session 7th in Sahara Force India Team. Nico Rosberg who recently signed the multi-year contract for Mercedes. Paul Di Resta in the 2nd Sahara Force India finished 9th.

Jaime Alguersuari finished the top 10 in the first session.

First Session saw the inclusion of young driver test with Jean Eric finishing 11th in 2nd Toro Rosso followed by Renault test driver Romain Grasjean who finished ahead of Vitaly Petrov.

Pastor Maldonado is 14th in the Williams. Michael Schumacher in a habit of long testing in one session finished 15th followed by the struggling for speed Sauber duo Perez and Kobayashi.

Behind the Saubers the usual scenario continues with Lotus leading from HRT and Virgin. Only this time, HRT yet again put an upperhand on Virgin to finish ahead. Robert Wickens debuted for Virgin as a test driver.

Rubens Barrichello after a Mechanical problem failed to set time in the Williams finished last.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Jenson Button	Mclaren - Mercedes	1min 40.263sec		21
2	Mark Webber	Red Bull - Renault	1min 40.389sec	0.126	26
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mclaren - Mercedes	1min 40.403sec	0.140	27
4	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull - Renault	1min 40.755sec	0.492	27
5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1min 40.801sec	0.538	25
6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1min 41.260sec	0.997	17
7	Adrian Sutil	Sahara Force India - Mercedes	1min 41.340sec	1.077	23
8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	1min 42.130sec	1.867	26
9	Paul Di Resta	Sahara Force India - Mercedes	1min 42.151sec	1.888	28
10	Jaime Alguersuari	STR - Ferrari	1min 42.377sec	2.114	26
11	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR - Ferrari	1min 42.633sec	2.370	26
12	Romain Grosjean	Renault	1min 42.685sec	2.422	29
13	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1min 43.118sec	2.855	13
14	Pastor Maldonado	Williams - Cosworth	1min 43.255sec	2.992	29
15	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	1min 43.389sec	3.126	24
16	Sergio Perez	Sauber - Ferrari	1min 44.412sec	4.149	28
17	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber - Ferrari	1min 44.484sec	4.221	18
18	Heikki Kovalanien	Lotus - Renault	1min 44.565sec	4.302	27
19	Jarno Trulli	Lotus - Renault	1min 44.898sec	4.635	25
20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT - Cosworth	1min 46.385sec	6.122	28
21	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT - Cosworth	1min 46.532sec	6.269	27
22	Timo Glock	Virgin - Cosworth	1min 48.024sec	7.761	20
23	Robert Wickens	Virgin - Cosworth	1min 48.551sec	8.288	23
24	Rubens Barrichello	Williams - Cosworth	No time		3