Rosberg leads first practice at Suzuka

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Japan, Circuit Suzukajp

Mercedes were again by far the fastest team in the first session of the weekend, with the two Mercedes at least a second ahead of the competition, with Vettel being the closest at 1.094s off of Rosberg's best. Lewwis Hamilton sat in between, two tenths down on his team mate.

Kimi Raikkonen was fourth fastest, with the Red Bull duo next on the timing sheet, even though they opted not to use the yellow marked soft tyres.

Force India were 7th and 8th, followed by Fernando Alonso who is set to please the Japanese Honda fans this weekend. Valtteri Bottas completed the top 10 for Williams.

Alonso however did only manage to complete 10 laps before ending up in the barriers at Spoon Curve. The Spaniard oversteered into the left hand corner, and subsequently went backwards into the tyre barriers, causing a reasonable impact on the right rear suspension. Romain Grosjean similarly had a troubled session as he went off head on into the tyres at Degner following a big lockup.

Others had less trouble, apart from the usual early issues. Max Verstappen for instance reported sluggish upshifts while Lewis Hamilton reported low power. Overall, most drivers appeared to struggle with low grip, a situation that should improve as more running goes on later in the weekend.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
16Nico RosbergMercedes1:32.431-24
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:32.646+0.215s21
35Sebastian VettelFerrari1:33.525+1.094s19
47Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:33.817+1.386s17
53Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:34.112+1.681s23
633Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:34.379+1.948s26
727Nico HulkenbergForce India Mercedes1:34.530+2.099s28
811Sergio PerezForce India Mercedes1:34.767+2.336s30
914Fernando AlonsoMcLaren Honda1:35.003+2.572s10
1077Valtteri BottasWilliams Mercedes1:35.381+2.950s31
1126Daniil KvyatToro Rosso Ferrari1:35.446+3.015s23
1255Carlos SainzToro Rosso Ferrari1:35.672+3.241s27
1322Jenson ButtonMcLaren Honda1:35.677+3.246s24
148Romain GrosjeanHaas Ferrari1:35.688+3.257s17
1512Felipe NasrSauber Ferrari1:35.967+3.536s15
1619Felipe MassaWilliams Mercedes1:36.169+3.738s23
1721Esteban GutierrezHaas Ferrari1:36.219+3.788s21
189Marcus EricssonSauber Ferrari1:36.294+3.863s19
1920Kevin MagnussenRenault1:36.822+4.391s30
2031Esteban OconMrt Mercedes1:37.797+5.366s29
2194Pascal WehrleinMrt Mercedes1:37.966+5.535s24
2230Jolyon PalmerRenault1:37.992+5.561s13