Practice 1 Report - Rosberg Responds

Nico Rosberg responded to Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton's string of five victories by setting the quickest time in Free Practice 1 for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Rosberg edged out Lewis Hamilton by 0.221 of a second.

The ambient temperature at the start of the session was degrees 66 Fahrenheit (19 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Centigrade.) The humidity was 90 percent.

Pastor Maldonado, who scored his first points of the season in Texas last Sunday, was the first driver out of the pit lane of the 2.677‘‚  ®mile (4.309-km) 15‘‚  ®turn Carlos Pace Autodrom.

The 18 car line-up was as follows: Red Bull Renault‘‚  ® Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo; Mercedes ‘‚  ® Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg; Ferrari ‘‚  ® Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen; Lotus Renault ‘‚  ® Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado; McLaren Mercedes‘‚  ® Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen; Force India Mercedes ‘‚  ® Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez; Sauber Ferrari ‘‚  ® Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez; Toro Rosso Renault ‘‚  ® Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat; Williams Mercedes ‘‚  ® Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.

In FP1, however, test driver Felipe Nasr was in Bottas' Williams, Daniel Juncaddela was in Perez' Force India, and Max Verstappen was in Vergne's Toro Rosso.

Button did his install lap and as he came into the pits his car shut down and he had to be pushed to the garage.

"Everything's just shut off," he radioed. "Everything's just switched off. All the power, everything's gone."

Pirelli brought its soft and medium compound dry weather tires to Interlagos.

"The lap takes a lot out of the tires due to the almost non-stop succession of corners, a number of which are high-speed," Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director said. "So getting the most out of the tires and the strategy is clearly going to be of vital importance in the race. We've seen a number of wet races in the past at Interlagos, which seems to be a strong possibility this year as well.

"All of this adds to the reputation of the Brazilian Grand Prix for hosting dramatic races where nobody knows what to expect, so it's likely that we can look forward to another exciting weekend in front of a crowd that is truly passionate about Formula One."

Everybody was on the white sidewall mediums for FP1.

15 minutes into the session, Verstappen set the first lap time ‘‚  ® 1:19.999. He then lowered that to a 1:17.712. Alonso slotted into second with a 1:17.778.

17 minutes into the session, Sutil slid off the track at Turn 6 and continued.

18 minutes into the session, Raikkonen took the lead with a 1:17.402.

21 minutes into the session, and the Mercedes lads were on top with Hamilton doing a 1:15.337 and Rosberg a 1:15.450.

It was slippery out there. Juncadella spun at Turn 6.

23 minutes into the session, Rosberg, who said his car had too much understeer, popped ahead with a 1:15.002.

25 minutes into the session, Hamilton beat that with a 1:14.172.

Even with that understeer, Rosberg posted a 1:14.001 at 26 minutes into the session. Vettel was now third with a 1:14.902.

28 minutes into the session, Hamilton responded with a 1:13.468.

With FP1 one-third complete, the top six were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Kvyat, Alonso, Vettel and Ricciardo. Everybody was in the pits now preparing for the next round of runs.

34 minutes into the session, Magnussen headed out. The McLaren crew was still fixing Button's car.

As the minutes ticked by he had the track to himself as he did five timed laps and moved up to third place with a 1:14.136.

44 minutes into the session, Verstappen and Kvyat ventured out.

At the midway point of FP1 the top six were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Magnussen, Kvyat, Alonso and Vettel.

With 38 minutes remaining in the session, Verstappen jumped to second with a 1:13.827.

With 36 minutes remaining in the session, Kvyat spun at Turn 3 and continued.

With 31 minutes remaining in the session, Rosberg retook the lead with a 1:12.764. Hamilton would post a 1:12.985.

At the one hour mark the top six were: Rosberg, Hamilton, Verstappen, Maldonado, Raikkonen and Magnussen.

With 28 minutes remaining in the session, Juncadella went off at Turn 8 and punched his Force India into the tire barriers. That brought out the red flags which stopped the session with 29 minutes remaining.

Perez certainly did not look pleased to see his car was crunched.

The top 10 were: Rosberg, Hamilton, Verstappen, Maldonado, Raikkonen, Magnussen, Kvyat, Ricciardo, Sutil and Hulkenberg. The bottom four were: Massa, Juncadella, Button (still in the pits with a broken down McLaren) and Gutierrez.

With 21 minutes remaining in the session, the green lights came on and things got going again. Hamilton was first to head out.

With 11 minutes remaining in the session, Alonso jumped up to third place only to be displaced by Kvyat. Meanwhile Verstappen slid off at Turn 1 as he locked his front brakes.

With 4 minutes remaining in the session, Raikkonen spun and continued at Turn 6. And Raikkonen had another spin.

Right at the end, Massa jumped up to fifth.

The top 10 at the end of FP1 were: Rosberg, Hamilton, Kvyat, Alonso, Massa, Verstappen, Maldonado, Raikkonen, Magnussen and Ricciardo.