Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) a été le plus rapide de la première séance d’essais libres du Grand Prix d’Abou Dhabi. Jenson Button (McLaren) a réalisé le 2e temps et Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) le 3e temps. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) a devancé Mark Webber (Red Bull) en 4e place. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) a fait le 6e temps. Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus) est 10e.
| 1 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:43.285 | 21 | |
| 2 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:43.618 | 0.333 | 19 |
| 3 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:44.050 | 0.765 | 23 |
| 4 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:44.366 | 1.081 | 21 |
| 5 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:44.542 | 1.257 | 22 |
| 6 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:44.694 | 1.409 | 23 |
| 7 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:45.115 | 1.830 | 26 |
| 8 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:45.194 | 1.909 | 19 |
| 9 | 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1:45.347 | 2.062 | 25 |
| 10 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:45.422 | 2.137 | 15 |
| 11 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:45.567 | 2.282 | 24 |
| 12 | 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:45.587 | 2.302 | 20 |
| 13 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:45.722 | 2.437 | 20 |
| 14 | 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:45.743 | 2.458 | 20 |
| 15 | 11 | Jules Bianchi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:45.769 | 2.484 | 22 |
| 16 | 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:45.811 | 2.526 | 22 |
| 17 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:46.649 | 3.364 | 24 |
| 18 | 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1:46.708 | 3.423 | 26 |
| 19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1:47.418 | 4.133 | 23 |
| 20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:47.891 | 4.606 | 21 |
| 21 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1:48.354 | 5.069 | 22 |
| 22 | 25 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:48.887 | 5.602 | 22 |
| 23 | 23 | Qing Hua Ma | HRT-Cosworth | 1:50.487 | 7.202 | 20 |
| 24 | 21 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | No time | 3 |