Nico Rosberg went quickest in the opening practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix as Sebastian Vettel exited the session early on and Fernando Alonso also suffered technical woes.
Rosberg set the pace from the start and his best lap of 1:10.401 was good enough to eclipse second-placed team-mate Lewis Hamilton by three tenths of a seconds. Third on the timesheet was Kimi Räikkonen, the Ferrari driver lapping sixth tenths down on Rosberg’s benchmark.
Vettel, though, had an unhappy time in the second Ferrari. The four-time champion’s session lasted just 20 minutes and four laps before he was a forced to pull over on track reporting a loss of drive.
Valtteri Bottas was fourth fastest for Williams, with Sauber’s Felipe Nasr completing the top five with a lap of 1:11.633, 1.2s seconds adrift of the to-p Mercedes.
Sixth place in the session went to Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat, the Russian finishing just under a tenth of a second clear of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo who after a lacklustre Canadian Grand Prix is benefiting from a new chassis his weekend. Both Red Bull drivers are likely to take grid penalties this weekend, however, as the team looks set to give each driver a fifth Renault power unit of the season.
The Red Bulls were followed by Max Verstappen driving for Renault-powered sister outfit Toro Rosso, while Felipe Massa finished in ninth place for Williams with a time 1:11.890, just over one hundredth of a second ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez.
Alonso’s FP1 problems started on his installation lap when the Spaniard was forced to coast back to the McLaren garage with an apparent problem.
He remained there until the closing stages of the session and then logged 10 laps before calling an early halt to his morning’s work. Alonso is also facing a grid penalty for use of a fifth power unit this weekend.
2015 Austrian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:10.401s 2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:10.709s 3. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:11.028s 4. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:11.452s 5. Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:11.633s 6. Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:11.642s 7. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:11.724s 8. Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:11.825s 9. Felipe Massa Williams 1:11.890s 10. Sergio Perez Force India 1:11.905s 11. Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:11.948s 12. Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:12.004s 13. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:12.031s 14. Jolyon Palmer Lotus 1:12.050s 15. Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:12.159s 16. Jenson Button McLaren 1:12.920s 17. Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:13.272s 18. Will Stevens Manor Marussia 1:13.937s 19. Roberto Merhi Manor Marussia 1:15.459s 20. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:15.684s
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