Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg led the first practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix, with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber coming in third and fourth.
The Mercedes pair looked comfortable on Friday morning, with Hamilton topping the times by three tenths over Rosberg, whilst Vettel was another three tenths back.
Felipe Massa led team-mate Fernando Alonso with the two Ferrari’s filling the next two spots, and the Lotus’s occupying the next two.
The session saw several incidents including the loss of a rear-wheel for Pastor Maldonado which ended his session early.
Jules Bianchi hit the tyre wall with some force in his Marussia, causing front damage with an hour to go. The damage is expected to rule him out of FP2.
Both Giedo van der Garde and Max Chilton had offs as the former went straight into the gravel and the latter span.
FP1 Times – 2013 Japanese Grand Prix:
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:34.157 | 19 | |
| 02 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:34.487 | 0.330 | 19 |
| 03 | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:34.768 | 0.611 | 24 |
| 04 | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:34.787 | 0.630 | 20 |
| 05 | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:35.126 | 0.969 | 14 |
| 06 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:35.154 | 0.997 | 16 |
| 07 | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:35.179 | 1.022 | 15 |
| 08 | K. Räikkönen | Lotus | 1:35.364 | 1.207 | 17 |
| 09 | S. Perez | McLaren | 1:35.450 | 1.293 | 27 |
| 10 | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:35.635 | 1.478 | 19 |
| 11 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:35.868 | 1.711 | 22 |
| 12 | N. Hulkenberg | Sauber | 1:35.900 | 1.743 | 18 |
| 13 | J-E. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:36.066 | 1.909 | 20 |
| 14 | A. Sutil | Force India | 1:36.165 | 2.008 | 19 |
| 15 | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:36.178 | 2.021 | 12 |
| 16 | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:36.340 | 2.183 | 23 |
| 17 | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:36.399 | 2.242 | 18 |
| 18 | E. Gutierrez | Sauber | 1:36.760 | 2.603 | 22 |
| 19 | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:37.595 | 3.438 | 22 |
| 20 | J. Bianchi | Marussia | 1:37.629 | 3.472 | 8 |
| 21 | G. van der Garde | Caterham | 1:38.025 | 3.868 | 15 |
| 22 | M. Chilton | Marussia | 1:38.763 | 4.606 | 18 |
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