After winning the last six Formula One races, Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg was once again the man to beat at the Sochi Autodrom, setting the fastest time in the opening practice session in Russia.
Mercedes have dominated the last two races at the Sochi Autodrom, winning both races. They look set to make it a hat-trick of victories.
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton ended the session 0.722s behind his teammate.
Ferrari will be encouraged by their Friday practice times, setting the third and fourth fastest times on the soft tyres. Vettel led Raikkonen with both drivers looking very comfortable in the SF16-H.
Despite suffering a clutch failure, Williams’ Felipe Massa took to the circuit with 35 minutes to go. The Brazilian, who celebrated his 35th birthday on Monday, finished fifth fastest on the supersoft tyre.
Daniel Ricciardo spent the opening segment of FP1 testing Red Bull’s canopy cockpit safety device. The Australian ended the session sixth ahead of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and teammate Daniil Kvyat.
Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top 10.
Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin made his debut for Renault, replacing Kevin Magnussen. Sirotkin was a whopping seven-tenths clear of full-time driver Jolyon Palmer.
On the other hand, Alfonso Celis Jr, another Friday driver in Sochi, was nearly three seconds off Perez in the other Force India.
