After extending his lead over Lewis Hamilton in the previous round in Malaysia, Nico Rosberg continued on this wave of momentum by setting the pace in first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Rosberg ended first practice at the legendary figure of eight Suzuka Circuit over two-tenths clear of his Mercedes teammate. Both Mercedes drivers completed over 20 laps in the opening session in Japan and were well clear of their nearest challengers Ferrari.
Suzuka specialist Sebastian Vettel was third fastest behind the Mercedes pairing however he will be dissatisfied with the pace deficit to the reigning world champions.
2005 Japanese Grand Prix winner Kimi Raikkonen led the two Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, who set their best times on the white marked medium tyres.
Next up was the Force India duo, Nico Hulkenberg leading Sergio Perez with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas rounding out the top 10 spots.
FP1 was relatively straight forward for all of the teams with no major dramas other than Alonso spinning on the entry to Spoon, damaging the rear of his McLaren MP4-31 and Romain Grosjean running into the gravel at Turn 9.
Both Toro Rosso drivers were just outside the top 10, however, opted to set their best times on the orange-marked hard tyre suggesting they have pace in hand and should be inside the top 10 come FP2 later this afternoon.
On his final Japanese GP, Felipe Massa trailed teammate Bottas in 16th respectively.
Renault’s Jolyon Palmer was slowest of all 22 runners.
