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ABU DHABI, Oct 30, 2009 (AFP) - Britain's Lewis Hamilton topped the times in Friday morning's opening free practice for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old Englishman, in a McLaren Mercedes, was quickest through most of the opening session run on the spectacular new Yas Marina circuit on an arid former desert island in the Persian Gulf.
Hamilton clocked a fastest lap of one minute and 43.939 seconds to outpace compatriot and newly-crowned champion Jenson Button of Brawn GP, the two Britons together leaving German Sebastian Vettel out of reach in third place for Red Bull.
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was fourth in the second Brawn ahead of German Nick Heidfeld for BMW Sauber and Swiss Sebastien Buemi of Toro Rosso.
German Adrian Sutil sat out most of the session with a gearbox problem but still clocked the seventh best time for Force India. This left Australian Mark Webber of Red Bull, Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari in the second Toro Rosso and Italian veteran Jarno Trulli, for Toyota, to complete the top ten.
The session was slow to start as the cars and their drivers were tentative to raise the pace on a new track covered in sand and dust.
When they did they were caught out most at Turn 19, a sharp left-hander just after running under the Yas Hotel complex, close to the marina.
Both Ferrari drivers were well down the field as the teams worked steadily to prepare for Sunday's twilight day-night race that will be run under the most powerful floodlights used for any outdoor event in world sport.
Abu Dhabi first practice times
1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren - Mercedes 1 min 43.939s
2. Jenson Button (Britain) Brawn - Mercedes 1:44.035
3. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull - Renault 1:44.153
4. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Brawn - Mercedes 1:44.207
5. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:44.667
6. Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:44.687
7. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India-Mercedes 1:44.688
8. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault 1:44.805
9. Jaime Alguersuari (Spain) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:44.955
10. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:44.958
11. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:44.988
12. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren - Mercedes 1:45.123
13. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 1:45.649
14. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams - Toyota 1:45.679
15. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:45.704
16. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:45.865
17. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Force India-Mercedes 1:46.239
18. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Ferrari 1:46.267
19. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Toyota 1:46.364
20. Romain Grosjean (France) Renault 1:46.411
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