Mercedes takes the lead in Austrian FP1

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Mercedes unsurprisingly came out on top as the first practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix came to an end. It was Nico Rosberg who went fastest, ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest in the first Ferrari.

Williams' Valtterri Bottas was third fastest and may be in search for improvements as his team is eagerly targeting the front of the grid for Sunday's Grand Prix, following on from Williams' strong performance at this circuit one year ago.

It should be said though that performance wise, FP1 usually doesn't say a lot. In any case, Alonso, Merhi and Vettel didn't even get as far as running a solid first practice as all three were plagued with technical troubled that held them in pits for most of the session.

Results

..
Pos.No.DriverTeamTimeGapLaps
16Nico RosbergMercedes1:10.401-36
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:10.709+0.308s28
37Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:11.028+0.627s22
477Valtteri BottasWilliams1:11.452+1.051s26
512Felipe NasrSauber1:11.633+1.232s28
626Daniil KvyatRed Bull1:11.642+1.241s31
73Daniel RicciardoRed Bull1:11.724+1.323s29
833Max VerstappenToro Rosso1:11.825+1.424s38
919Felipe MassaWilliams1:11.890+1.489s29
1011Sergio PerezForce India1:11.905+1.504s37
1155Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:11.948+1.547s32
1213Pastor MaldonadoLotus1:12.004+1.603s34
1327Nico HulkenbergForce India1:12.031+1.630s36
1430Jolyon PalmerLotus1:12.050+1.649s27
159Marcus EricssonSauber1:12.159+1.758s30
1622Jenson ButtonMclaren1:12.920+2.519s30
1714Fernando AlonsoMclaren1:13.272+2.871s10
1828Will StevensMarussia1:13.937+3.536s29
1998Roberto MerhiMarussia1:15.459+5.058s11
205Sebastian VettelFerrari1:15.684+5.283s4