Nico Rosberg topped the opening practice session for the Russian Grand Prix on Friday morning to continue his strong form from the opening three races, easily beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton to the top spot.
The Mercedes drivers were the first to set a time during the 90-minute session with Hamilton setting the early pace, but Rosberg was quickest as they switched to the softest compound available and remained at the top when the checkered flag fell.
Hamilton ended the session seven-tenths adrift in second, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel posting a last-minute improvement to jump to third, a further three-tenths down.
Kimi Raikkonen was fourth, managing just 18 laps compared to Rosberg’s 32, as a DRS failure left him in the garage for some time as Ferrari sought a fix.
It was a similar story for Felipe Massa, fifth, who spent more than half of his time in the garage with a clutch issue. The Williams team managed to get the Brazilian out for 14 laps with a best time 1.2s down on on Rosberg.
Daniel Ricciardo debuted Red Bull’s ‘Aeroscreen’ for a single run as he tested its visibility before the team removed it, allowing him to get on with his setup work. Ricciardo was sixth quickest ahead of team-mate Daniil Kvyat.
Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz completed the top ten, with the latter a distant 2.5s down on the lead pace.
Renault’s Sergey Sirotkin took over Kevin Magnussen’s car for the session and impressed with a 1:40.898, placing him five places higher than Jolyon Palmer who ended up almost a second slower than the Russian.
Manor endured a troubled morning as Pascal Wehrlein damaged his floor, which was replaced in record time allowing him to head out for 21 laps, whilst Rio Haryanto managed just eight after taking part in only the final ten minutes.
Meanwhile several drivers struggled for grip with almost everyone running wide at Turn 2 at least once, whilst Hamilton, Vettel, Button, Kvyat and Palmer all span at some point during the session.
