Nico Rosberg lead the way ahead of his team mate, Lewis Hamilton, in FP1 by 0.070s. The Ferrari’s of Vettel and Raikkonen were 0.978 and 1.004 seconds off Rosberg’s time respectively in 3rd and 4th.
Kimi Raikkonen complained the SF-15T had “no front end” with Ferrari’s 15 upgraded parts all applied at once.
The Toro Rosso drivers impressed by finishing in 5th and 6th – 1.3 and 1.7 off the pace.
The conditions were dry throughout the session with temperatures at around 20°C.
There were three race drivers absent from the session. Bottas handed his seat over to Wolff, Ericsson for Marciello and Lotus substituted Grosjean for Palmer. Wolff finished in 14th place and 0.8 seconds away from Massa’s Williams benchmark. Palmer outperformed Maldonado by 0.45 seconds finishing in 13th. Marciello half a second away from Nasr’s Sauber benchmark.
Alonso’s return to the circuit where he injured himself was incident free but the McLaren looked a handful for both Fernando and Jenson. The freshly painted MP4-30 has “completely the wrong balance” said Button at the end of the session. The McLaren duo finishing 15th and 16th and separated by 0.004s in Alonso’s favour. Alonso finished the session with a flurry as he spun 360.
Daniel Ricciardo missed most of the session and didn’t post a time until the final 10 minutes.
The Mercedes duo were swapping time sheet positions throughout the session. 70 minutes into the session Rosberg entered the pitlane on the wrong side of the entry bollard and was awarded a Steward’s investigation.
The only tyre to be used throughout the session by everyone was the prime tyre.
Images Courtesy of Mercedes AMG F1 Team
