Hamilton under investigation in Mercedes goodbye as Leclerc takes hammer blow

In the final grand prix of his Mercedes F1 career, Lewis Hamilton will face the stewards for impeding Lando Norris, who ended up settling for second-best behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc at the end of the final first practice session of the season in Abu Dhabi.

With the constructors' championship on the line going into the last race of a record-breaking 24-event campaign, with 21 points separating McLaren and Ferrari, Leclerc and Norris were separated by two-tenths of a second.

Leclerc had to wait until 30 minutes into the session before finally taking to the Yas Marina Circuit due to an issue with his Ferrari, but once on the soft tyres as he attempted to make up for lost ground, the Monégasque posted the best lap of 1:24.321s, leaving Norris 0.221s adrift.

Such has been the improvement in this year's cars, Leclerc's time was a staggering 1.7s faster than the leading FP1 lap from a year ago at this circuit, set by Mercedes George Russell.

But, as the session concluded, it was announced that Ferrari had to change the battery pack on Leclerc's SF-24, incurring a 10-place grid penalty that severely damages the team's hopes of winning the constructors' crown.

Hamilton, third quickest, but almost half-a-second down on Leclerc, will visit the stewards' office after blocking Norris into the final corner.

In his final race weekend for Mercedes after 12 seasons with the team before joining Ferrari next year, the seven-time champion was trying to create a gap into the final corner. Hamilton, however, was driving too slow, forcing Norris, on a hot lap behind his fellow Briton, to lock up his front-right tyre.

Hamilton and team-mate George Russell exchanged fastest laps early on on the medium tyres, with the former having the upper hand, with a 1:25.566s, by a slender 0.005s.

On the switch to the soft tyres, Russell appeared poised to go quickest, only to be slowed in the final corner by RB's Liam Lawson.

Moments later, Norris delivered a stunning lap of 1:24.542s, but was ultimately usurped by Leclerc.

Russell was the only other driver within a second of Leclerc, finishing 0.844s down, followed by Alpine's Pierre Gasly, the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg, and Williams' Franco Colapinto who, along with team-mate Alex Albon, take gearbox penalties going into the race that will drop them five places on the grid.

It was a typical end-of-season first practice session, with seven rookies on track, albeit one of those in Jack Doohan embarking on his full-time F1 career with Alpine after the team opted to drop Esteban Ocon for this last race weekend.

With four-time champion Max Verstappen looking on, F2 title contender Isack Hadjar took to the wheel of the Dutchman's title-winning machine. There were issues, however, for the Frenchman as he endured an uncomfortable ride with the steering wheel brushing his legs as he turned.

At one stage early in the session, Hadjar spun the RB20, and on occasion during it, he bemoaned the traffic, swearing over the radio such was his frustration.

Hadjar finished 15th quickest, 1.556s down on Leclerc, and four-tenths adrift of the leading rookie in Felipe Drugovich in the Aston Martin, who was ninth overall.

Ryo Hirakawa was 14th for McLaren, with rookies then occupying the bottom four places. Ayuma Iwasa, standing in for fellow Japanese Yuki Tsunoda at RB, was 17th, followed by Arthur Leclerc, joining brother Charles on track in a Ferrari, then Doohan, and Luke Browning in a Williams slowest, over two seconds back.