Practice 1 Report - Back to school

Formula 1's summer break is over and the teams and drivers headed back to work in Free Practice 1 at Spa. And at the head of the class as school resumed were Mercedes teammates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 63 degrees Fahrenheit (17 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Centigrade.)

The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes “ Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Red Bull Renault “ Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat. Williams Mercedes “ Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Ferrari “ Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. McLaren Honda “ Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Force India Mercedes “ Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Toro Rosso Renault “ Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. Lotus Mercedes “ Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. Marussia Ferrari “ Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi. Sauber “ Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.

For FP1, however, Jolyon Palmer was in Grosjean's Lotus.

There was a zero percent chance of rain as the drivers set out for their recon laps around the 4.352“mile (7.004-km) and 19“turn Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

15 minutes into the session, Sainz set the first time “ 1:54.645.

18 minutes into the session, Hamilton took first place with a 1:52.192. Shortly thereafter Nasr radioed in that his engine was down on power.

21 minutes into the session, Rosberg radioed that he had lost drive. He pitted, and now he was the only driver not out on the track. Meanwhile Hamilton had lowered his time to 1:51.993 and then he clocked a 1:51.340. Ricciardo was second and Kvyat third.

30 minutes into the session, the top 10 were: Hamilton, Ricciardo, Kvyat, Nasr, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Vettel, Verstappen, Perez and Massa.

40 minutes into the session, Maldonado became the first driver to go back out on track. Rosberg soon headed out as well in the repaired Mercedes.

With 44 minutes remaining in the session, Raikkonen moved into second with a time of 1:51.478.

With 40 minutes remaining in the session, Maldonado crashed at Turn 7 and that brought out the red flags.

With 31 minutes remaining in the session, FP1 was restarted.

With 30 minutes remaining in the session, the top 10 were: Hamilton, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Sainz, Kvyat, Maldonado, Nasr, Hulkenberg, Vettel and Verstappen.

With 26 minutes remaining in the session, Rosberg posted a 1:51.200. He lowered that to a 1:51.082 while Hamilton's best was a 1:51.324.

The top 10 got reshuffled, so the order was now: Rosberg, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Vettel, Kvyat, Verstappen, Sainz, Perez and Bottas. And it remained that way as the session wound down and the drivers did long runs on worn tires.