Rosberg quickest in opening practice of home grand prix
Nico Rosberg topped the timesheet in the opening practice session of the German Grand Prix weekend, the German beating Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just 0.065s.
Rosberg’s time of 1:19.131 beat his title rival team-mate's best lap by six hundredths of a second as Hamilton frequently aborted quick laps as he worked through his morning programme.
Behind the Mercedes pair, Fernando Alonso was third-fastest for Ferrari, the Spaniard finishing just under three tenths of a second adrift of Hamilton.
Fourth place went to Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo who was over half a second down on Rosberg's time. Jenson Button was fifth, with team-mate Kevin Magnussen seventh as McLaren continued the good form they showed in Silverstone a fortnight ago.
Splitting the McLarens was Sebastian Vettel in the second Red Bull. The 2013 German Grand Prix winner finished the opening session four tenths of a second behind his team-mate and almost a full second behind compatriot Rosberg.
With Magnussen in seventh, eighth place went to Kimi Raikkonen, back at the wheel of his Ferrari after he was forced to sit out last week’s Silverstone test in the wake of a heavy accident at the British Grand Prix. The final two top-10 places went to Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat and Sauber’s Adrian Sutil.
Elsewhere, Williams development driver Susie Wolff made a second and far more successful FP1 appearance for the Grove team.
At Silverstone the Scot’s grand prix weekend debut lasted just four laps before an oil pressure problem sidelined her and early on at Hockenheim it seemed as if she was destined for more heartbreak as an issue on her installation lap forced her back to the pits.
The problem was rectified, however, and she was able to complete a total of 22 laps, with a best time of 1:20.76. That left her in P15, just 0.227s off the best time set by team-mate Felipe Massa.
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m19.131s 29 laps2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m19.196s +0.065s 253. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m19.423s +0.292s 214. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m19.697s +0.566s 275. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m19.833s +0.702s 246. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m20.097s +0.966s 287. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m20.105s +0.974s 328. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m20.210s +1.079s 219. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m20.337s +1.206s 2810 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m20.505s +1.374s 1811 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m20.542s +1.411s 1912 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m20.586s +1.455s 2313 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m20.592s +1.461s 2214 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m20.598s +1.467s 2415 Susie Wolff Williams-Mercedes 1m20.769s +1.638s 2216 Giedo van der Garde Sauber-Ferrari 1m20.782s +1.651s 2317 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m21.603s +2.472s 2018 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1m21.854s +2.723s 3019 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m22.572s +3.441s 3120 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m22.982s +3.851s 2421 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m23.256s +4.125s 3522. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m23.299s +4.168s 22
report follows
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