Max Verstappen gave Red Bull plenty of reasons to feel optimistic ahead of this afternoon's Practice session after the Dutchman held off the Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton to top the opening Practice session at Yas Marina.

The opening Practice session in Abu Dhabi would be Formula 1's first on a dramatically redesigned Yas Marina Circuit. Since the sport's last visit just under a year ago, Turns 4-5-6 had been redesigned to improve overtaking possibilities, whilst Turns 11-12-13 was replaced with a high-speed banked Turn 9. 

Williams decided to rest the Mercedes bound George Russell for FP1, giving the team's reserve driver Jack Aitken a taste of Formula 1 machinery.

Verstappen's session got off to a shaky start, with the Dutchman reporting a minor issue with the right side of his steering wheel; however, he quickly put those issues to the back of his mind with a 1:26.463 to lead the session's opening stages.

Hamilton then went over a tenth quicker on his first run to move to the front of the timesheets until Fernando Alonso managed to pip his former rival with a 1:26.271.

Track limits at Turn 16 caught out Bottas and Nicholas Latifi in the opening stages of the session, with the pair getting their times deleted as a result.

Verstappen was the first driver to break into the 1:25s after just over 15 minutes had gone in the session, with Hamilton also improving on his next run with a 1:25.820, but was over two tenths down on his Championship rival.

That gap was then extended to over half a second when Verstappen set a 1:25.300 despite struggling with his steering wheel, which caused him to return to the pits to get it checked.

Hamilton's gap to Verstappen was reduced to over two tenths on his next run with a 1:25.552, but there were reasons to be concerned at Mercedes as the Brit continued to lose time in the second and third sectors.

At the halfway point of FP1, Verstappen led Hamilton and teammate Sergio Perez with Bottas ahead of Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly and Norris.

Kimi Raikkonen's last FP1 in Formula 1 was interrupted with a small half-spin at Turn 9, but luckily for the 2007 World Champion, he avoided the barriers and managed to get back underway without damage.

Esteban Ocon had a scare after his Alpine went into neutral after running over the reprofiled kerbs in the sector; however, the Frenchman managed to find first gear and was back underway without any issues.

Red Bull's eye-catching pace through the final two sectors was confirmed when Verstappen managed to shave off just under three tenths on his next run with a 1:25.009.

Hamilton continued to test the limits of the Yas Marina circuit, going wide on Turn 6 and having to use the runoff area to renter the circuit.

Turn 6 also caught out Carlos Sainz, who was forced to straightline the corner after carrying too much speed into the right-hander.

Sebastian Vettel had a late spin on his final push run at Turn 15; however, the four-time World Champion managed to keep his Aston Martin out of the barriers, much to the relief of his mechanics.

Despite Bottas and Hamilton's best efforts, Verstappen stayed at the front of the times when the checkered flag fell with the Finn over a tenth back on the Dutchman.

Hamilton was third quickest ahead of Perez, with Yuki Tsunoda the best of the rest in fifth ahead of Alonso and Gasly, with Leclerc, Sainz and Vettel rounding off the Top 10.