Rosberg tops first practice at Spa-Francorchamps

F1 Grand Prix, GP Belgium, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Nico Rosberg topped the first practice session of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, topping his teammate Lewis Hamilton by less than a second and confirming that the Mercedes has not lost a bit of its speed over the summer break.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was third fastest with Kimi Raikkonen in 5th. The Scuderia though have commonly run different programmes and may again fall down the pecking order as the weekend progresses.

McLaren started the weekend well too with Button 4th and Magnussen 7th.

Meanwhile, halfway into the session, Vettel hit trouble and returned to the pits. It soon showed that he would not return to the track in the session as the team dismantled the rear end of his car, removing one of the radiators to replace it with a new item.

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At the back of the field, Rossi drove the Marussia for the first time and found himself nearly 1.5 seconds off the pace of his teammate. Chilton though will return to the cockpit for the remainder of the weekend after contractual issues have been resolved.

At Caterham, Kobayashi's replacement, Andre Lotterer immediately beat regular race driver Marcus Ericsson, going a tenth quicker. The Audi endurance racer so far only has a deal for one race, but the team have not ruled out further negotiations if the performance is there.