Hello and welcome to ESPNF1's live commentary of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend. The first practice session of the weekend is just 30 minutes away and we're here to keep you up to date with lap-by-lap commentary and discussion.

It should be an interesting session as the teams get to grips with the latest updates on the car. We know Ferrari have got a slightly bigger package of parts for this race so we will see if we can get a closer look on the TV feed. But don't expect McLaren and Red Bull to stand still, they will also have new bits to bolt on and test in this session.

It would be interesting to get some of your thoughts on this circuit. It seems to divide opinion in the paddock as everybody loves the facilities but the track itself is seen as a bit sterile. The races here over the last three years haven't exactly been classics so let us know whether you're a fan or if you dislike it.

Madhan is already looking forward to the US GP in Austin and asks: "Any idea on US GP circuit downforce. Whether it'll aid RBR or Ferrari."

There are some fast sweeping corners there as well as the odd slow corner, so there's no doubt that the Red Bull will be quick. However, the tyre allocation is medium and hard compounds and Ferrari has been much closer to Red Bull on those tyres on race pace. The last time we had hard and medium was at Monza and Spa and Red Bull struggled a tad at both. Of course things have changed since then, with updates, but hopefully it will give a glimmer of hope to Alonso and the title will be decided in Brazil where we know from experience that anything can happen.

Back in Abu Dhabi, the organisers have made some changes to the kerbs here since last year. Higher kerbs, similar to those on the apex of turns eight and nine, have been installed on the apexes of turns five, six, 12, 13, 14, 18 and 19. The hope is to add a bit more of a challenge for the drivers.

In the cars there have also been some changes. Max Chilton (Marussia), Ma Qing Hua (HRT), Giedo van der Garde (Caterham), Valtteri Bottas (Williams) and Jules Bianchi (Force India) are all standing in for race drivers in this session.

The engines are being fired up. Expect to see one installation lap from each car and then a bit of a quiet period as the teams avoid heading out on a slightly dusty track.

Kimi Raikkonen is the first man on track this weekend in his Lotus. He ducks under the track along the unusual pit lane exit here and then lets roughly 750bhp loose into the middle of turn two.

Ferrari has a new rear wing on Alonso's car but we are expecting a few more updates to be added as the session goes on.

Only Rosberg, Kobayashi and Kovalainen are still in the pits. Everyone else is on their installation laps.

Medium tyres are on all the cars for these exploratory laps. The teams also have the soft compound Pirellis here in Abu Dhabi but we won't see them used until second practice.

Massa immediately stays out for a second lap in the Ferrari. Expect to see him doing a lot of the donkey work with the new updates this weekend.

Massa's not shying away from the new kerbs early on. His Ferrari clatters over them, but looks stable.

It looks like Mercedes is testing a Lotus-style passive double DRS with a large pipe coming out of the rear of the car.

A huge amount of work is going on on Webber's car after his installation lap.

Ferrari's mechanics are putting a new nose on Alonso's car. As they work we can see some new barge boards tucked away under the front of that car - another new updates on that Ferrari.

As predicted the track has gone a little quiet. Just the Marussias and Alonso on track at the moment.

Ferrari tweets: "First installations laps completed by both drivers and Fernando is doing one more now "

It's worth making a not of the track temperature as its now 45C, which is probably as high as we'll see it this weekend. As the sun starts to set the temps will go down, and the teams will have to factor that in to any data they gather in this session for the race.

Lewis Hamilton is on his FP1 pit walk again. Last weekend he got an umbrella out to stop the photographers taking photos of him. Mark Sutton, who writes for ESPN after each weekend, was not impressed!

Altaf asks: "Is lotus running DDRS and coands exhaust this weekend? Is any extra pace they will get?"

I haven't seen a close picture of the car yet but no doubt it will be running the Coanda-effect exhaust. Not so sure about the DDRS as they have struggled with it this year.

Mark Webber is at the back of his garage having a chat with four-time world champion Alain Prost. Not a bad way to kill time while the track improves.

Chilton and Ma are the only drivers on track at the moment. Chilton has set a 2:27.380 but was doing constant speed tests so that time is completely irrelevant.

Down at Caterham, Kovalainen told us yesterday that his car has got a new front wing, new front brake ducts, modified floor at the front and diffuser and exhausts.

Madhan asks: "What tyre compounds for Brazil. How's RBR pace on supersoft and medium compared to Ferrari."

It will be medium and hard again in Brazil. It's hard to gauge the exact relative pace on different compounds as the last time the mediums were used was Monza and we have had quite a few changes to the cars since then.

Vergne is now out on track and setting the fastest middle and final sectors we've seen yet.

Vergne sets a 1:48.885 which is the closest we've seen to a proper flying lap so far. We're currently 30 minutes in.

McLaren has made some modifications to the winglets that wrap around the front of their side pods. Quite a small change but it's there nonetheless on Hamilton's car but not on Button's

Harmen asks: "Do you have an idea of what parts on the Ferrari were re-evaluated at recent straightline tests? im hoping for an exciting race in which RBR and Ferrari are closely matched but reckon that will only happen if Ferrari understand what went wrong in the windtunnel"

They were struggling with developments to their rear wing, which they brought to some races but decided not to run. However, the straight-line tests were also about understanding what was wrong with the wind tunnel data.

A bit more action on track now as Vergne gets down to a 1:46.708 and Bottas sets the second fastest time on a 1:47.308.

Hulkenberg is complaining that his seat is getting very hot in the Force India. And he's not talking about the interest from other drivers now that he's heading off to Sauber.

Bottas has now gone fastest with a 1:46.085.

Vinod asks: "Is there any chance that Vettel may get some grid penalty this weekend e.g. for using extra engines than allowed? How many engines he has used till now as compared to Alonso?"

As far as we know, the top drivers are all on their planned schedules for engine usage and not likely to incur a penalty. However, for the record, this is a list of how many engines they have used: Vettel 8, Webber 7, Hamilton 8, Button 8, Alonso 7, Massa 7, Schumacher 8, Rosberg 8, Raikkonen 7, Grosjean 7, di Resta 8, Hulkenberg 8. Pic is the only man who has gone over his limit and he is now on his ninth Cosworth engine of the season.

Schumacher is running to the limits on this circuit, but there is so much run off here that it hardly matters.

Lots of work is now going on to Hulkenberg's Force India after his complaints of a rather warm cockpit. The bodywork is now going back on so hopefully we'll see him back on track soon.

In reference to the engine usage list, I should add that just because a driver is on his eighth engine doesn't mean that he only has one to last him the last three races of the season. It can mean they have several engines with some mild usage on them that they will swap between. So don't too excited about Vettel being on eight. Nonetheless, if a driver does exceed the eight engine limit they get a hefty 10-place penalty, so it might become an issue in Brazil.

All that pushing to the limit has come off for Schumacher as he is now fastest on a 1:45.309. Bottas is just 0.092s off that pace in second with Bianchi third, 0.460 off Schumacher's time.

We're now half way through this session and no times have been set by Glock, Hulkenberg, Button, Vettel, Hamilton and van der Garde.

Interesting tweet from McLaren on gear ratio choices, which are so crucial to top speed and overtaking with the DRS: "Ratio changes take too long during the session, so they're done at the end of the day - but we usually arrive with a good base set-up."

Alonso is on a fast lap now... and he tops the times by 0.210s with a 1:45.099. His rivals haven't set times yet but it's never a bad thing to be on top.

Perez's car is the latest to be pulled to pieces by his mechanics in the Sauber garage. But he's stayed on the car so hopefully will be back out soon.

Vettel is on track with flo-viz paint liberally applied to the right-hand section of his front wing. No doubt there are some minor tweaks on that area of the car this weekend.

Siddhesh says: "Interesting, what you said about Mercedes running a DDRS system this weekend.. Is it on both drivers? What could be their possible reasons for trying something Lotus experimented with and failed? Wouldn't it have been more beneficial to try ape what Red Bull did?"

I haven't seen a close-up of Schumacher's Mercedes yet. It's probably a development for next year when Mercedes' version will be banned but the Lotus style version will still be legal. My understanding of Red Bull's is that it is similar to Mercedes' but stalls the rear rather than the front wing. I think that will also be banned under the regs next year.

Hamilton is now fastest with a 1:44.001, Vettel is second on a 1:44.643 and Alonso is now 1.098s off. Don't read too much into the times at this stage though.

Button's DRS is working overtime on the short straights in the final sector and he sets the second fastest time with a 1:44.148.

Hamilton is wasting no time getting in the groove at Yas Marina. He's just set a 1:43.449 and is now 0.699s clear at the top of the timing screens.

It would be interesting for the title battle if McLaren can take victory this weekend. They are now focusing on race wins in the knowledge that both drivers are out of the championship (Hamilton is mathematically still in it but only by one point) and the constructors' is likely to slip from their grasp this weekend too.

Flo-viz paint is now on Webber's front wing as Red Bull continues to analyse its parts.

Hulkenberg holds a nice drift as he leans on the kerb out of 14. Nice to watch, but sadly not that fast.

Hamilton is notching up fastest laps for fun out there as he sets new fastest times in all three sectors to clock a 1:43.285.

Schumacher holds up Glock at turns eight and nine chicane and runs off the circuit while holding up an apologetic hand to let the Marussia through.

It looks like Red Bull is focusing its aero paint on the upper element of the front wing and its effect on the air flowing to the bargeboards and suspension elements.

Suresh asks: "What type of tires are they using!"

All drivers are on medium tyres in this session. We won't see the softs until FP2.

Vinod asks: "In India we noticed that Vettel was having some spark near bottom floor of his car around end of the race. How come the problem was rectified automatically after few laps? Do you think they used some kind of automated height adjustment system to gain some extra aerodynamic advantage? On a side note please let us know your names as well who are providing us such a in depth analysis of these races."

Red Bull thinks something came loose at the bottom of his car as he clobbered one of the kerbs and then dislodged itself. Nothing major and no shouts of foul play from their rivals, so we have to take their word for it.

On the side note, I am deputy editor Laurence Edmondson and we have assistant editor Chris Medland at the circuit this weekend feeding information from the teams.

No change in the times at the top but Alonso is on track at the moment. It looks like he is gathering data at the moment as he is 1.689s off the pace of Hamilton.

Salman asks: "What are the initial assumptions for Alonso's grid position in Qualifying this week? Is DNF in Japanese GP already hurting Alonso's championship hopes? By the way was that Alonso's mistake in Japan?"

Ferrari's updates are aimed at getting the Alonso higher up the grid. The team knows he has to be closer to Vettel at the start of races to stand any chance of competing with the Red Bull. However, Alonso has already said that he does not expect to be as fast as his championship rival this weekend.

As for Japan, I think it was a racing incident but if you had to lay blame it would be at Alonso's door not Raikkonen's. Considering Massa's pace, Alonso probably could have taken 18 points at that race and that would put him 5 clear of Vettel at this stage. Either way Ferrari would need to improve to stay ahead of Red Bull, but Alonso is obviously pretty gutted to be missing those points and the ones he could have scored in Belgium.

Perez makes a mistake entering the pits and has to bail back onto the circuit.

Hamilton, Button, Vettel and Webber are all back on track. We might see some improvements now, but all their tyres are over 10 laps old after the earlier runs.

Hamilton is on heavier fuel as the team tell him they are expecting a 1:47.5, which is four seconds off his best.

Vettel runs wide at 17, which comes after one of the faster corners on the circuit. He simply out-braked himself by running onto the outside kerb on entrance to the corner. Once again, Yas Marian's acres of run-off are big enough to accommodate the wayward Red Bull.

Button complains of a little bit of rear locking under braking. Never a good thing and could be related to his KERS harvesting power from the rear axle.

Bea asks: "Last week in India, the McLarens were significantly faster in the medium tyres than any other car. Is that probably why they're on the top of the charts now? Or did they have some big upgrades?"

The mediums weren't used in India last week, but McLaren were quick on the hards. Or to look it another way, they were unusually slow on the softs. However, technical director Paddy Lowe told us yesterday that he thinks those soft tyre issue were specific to the track in India and he is expecting normal service to be resumed this weekend.

Maldonado clobbers one of the new kerbs, sending the nose of his Williams skyward. That was a mighty impact, but the car looks as if it's undamaged.

Just three minutes left now but nobody looks likely to improve.

Salman asks: "Why on earth Alonso got good race starts and overtakes in comparison of both Mclarens and one Red Bull? Is this because of his talent or a Ferrari engine magic? I also love to see Raikkonen got good starts when he was in Ferrari."

A bit of both. Certain cars to have better traction off the grid, but Alonso is also a master at positioning himself through the opening corners of a race (Japan withstanding).

Button has suddenly come alive in the middle sector with the fastest time yet, but that is dominated by straights.

Button improves to a 1:43.618 on his final lap but he's still 0.333s off Hamilton who looks set to take this session.

Alonso improves to a 1:44.366 and claims fourth. He's 1.081s off Hamilton's best but set his best time on older tyres. Fuel loads are of course unknown at this stage too.

Raikkonen had to finish that session early due to a puncture. He ended up 10th fastest and 2.137s off the pace.

Hamilton roles up to the grid for a practice start. He struggled with his getaway in India so he is very keen to improve his start this weekend.

An intriguing opening session but don't read too much into the times. There was a lot of testing of new parts going on out there and don't forget that the track temperatures will be lower in FP2 and for qualifying and the race.

Thanks for joining us and I hope you enjoyed the session. We'll be back for FP2 this evening so stay logged on to ESPNF1.com.