Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button formed a British one-two in first practice for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Last year's world champion set the fastest time and the driver who deposed him 12 days ago in Brazil was just 0.096 seconds behind after the opening 90 minutes of track action at the stunning £800million Yas Marina circuit.

If the current rumours eventually prove to be true, Hamilton and Button may even be team-mates at McLaren next season should the latter fail to agree a new deal with Brawn GP.

For now they remain on opposing sides and both looked the part as they set about tackling a venue F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone feels will never be beaten.

Naturally, there was a settling-in period for all the drivers, with Jaime Alguersuari in his Toro Rosso the first to post a timed lap of one minute 57 seconds.

Come the conclusion of the session, Hamilton had just managed to dip under one minute 44 seconds, with the best of his 18 laps timed at 1:43.939, with Button in close attendance at 1:44.035.

Button, admitting to feeling far more relaxed now with the title in his grasp, was the first to suffer a spin, although it was nothing major.

The 29-year-old pushed too hard into one corner as he emerged out of the shadow of the hotel that straddles the 21-turn track.

Sebastian Vettel, looking for a small degree of consolation for this season by finishing second behind Button in the standings, was third quickest, 0.214secs behind Hamilton.

Button's team-mate Rubens Barrichello still has a say, though, after failing to take the title race down to the wire in Brazil when he finished only eighth from pole position.

Barrichello finished just 0.054secs behind Vettel on the 5.554km track, and 0.268secs adrift of Hamilton, with the top four easily clear of any of their rivals.

BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was fifth overall, but 0.728secs down, followed closely by Sebastien Buemi in his Toro Rosso and Adrian Sutil for Force India.

Brazilian Grand Prix winner Mark Webber was eighth, and the only other driver to finish within a second of Hamilton, with the top 10 completed by Alguersuari and Toyota's Jarno Trulli.

The Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Giancarlo Fisichella were down in 15th and 18th places, with Renault's Romain Grosjean bringing up the rear, nearly 2.5secs off the pace.

Times:
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:43.939 18 laps
02 J. Button Brawn GP 1:44.035 20 laps
03 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:44.153 28 laps
04 R. Barrichello Brawn GP 1:44.207 23 laps
05 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:44.667 23 laps
06 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:44.687 32 laps
07 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:44.688 14 laps
08 M. Webber Red Bull 1:44.805 25 laps
09 J. Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:44.955 33 laps
10 J. Trulli Toyota 1:44.958 25 laps
11 R. Kubica BMW 1:44.988 22 laps
12 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:45.123 20 laps
13 N. Rosberg Williams 1:45.649 27 laps
14 K. Nakajima Williams 1:45.679 25 laps
15 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:45.704 27 laps
16 F. Alonso Renault 1:45.865 23 laps
17 V. Liuzzi Force India F1 1:46.022 22 laps
18 G. Fisichella Ferrari 1:46.267 26 laps
19 K. Kobayashi Toyota 1:46.364 28 laps
20 R. Grosjean Renault 1:46.411 27 laps