Image courtesy of Mercedes AMG Petronas
Nico Rosberg leads a Mercedes 1-2 after an imperfect first practice session for both Silver Arrows. The German set a 1:34.274 but had to be recovered from the track early on due to a hydraulics issue.
Lewis led much of the session and finished less than a tenth away from his teammate, but spun his W06 on the exit of Stowe corner pushing for more time.
The session was dry and hot throughout.
Impressively, 3rd was Max Verstappen with a 1:35.530, and Sainz in 5th ensured a Toro Rosso sandwich for Kimi Raikkonen
Williams test driver, Suzie Wolff, replaced Massa for FP1 and finished 13th – 0.8s behind Massa in 10th.
McLaren finished 17th and 18th for McLaren, but surprisingly the two Lotus’ did not fair much better in 14th and 16th as Maldonado only managed 8 laps in the session.
Vettel led his old teammate, Ricciardo, in 7th and Kvyat followed in 9th. Nasr in 11th was half a second faster than Sauber reserve driver, Marciello in 15th.
At Force India, Perez finished with 12th with a 1:36.889, and Hulkenberg finished 9th with a 1:36.157.
