FP1 - Rosberg leads Hamilton in Austria

Nico Rosberg led the way from Lewis Hamilton in the opening morning practice for the Austrian GP as Mercedes were dominant ahead of trouble-hit Ferrari.

Rosberg set a personal best of 1:10.401 to finish three-tenths up his team-mate at the top of the leaderboard as Spielberg’s first session had all sorts of testing by the teams: new parts, upgrades and trouble for Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel.

Fernando Alonso’s car was fitted with a fifth V6 engine, MGU-H and turbo, adding up to a 20-place grid penalty (10 for engine, 5 for each PU part).

And Eric Boullier stated this weekend doesn’t suit the McLarens. "We’re not ready yet to perform on this kind of track layout" so watch for upgrades and lots of testing with eyes for the British GP for the team.

Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo has been given a 10-place penalty for a new V6 engine this weekend, though the home team were encouraging with both Daniil Kvyat and Ricciardo finishing 6th and 7th.

For Ferrari, their target to challenge Mercedes started in trouble as Sebastian Vettel’s car broke down with a gearbox failure. It was Kimi Raikkonen who did have a more normal session and finished third behind the German team, ahead of Valtteri Bottas.

Other mentions go to Spielberg first-timers Felipe Nasr who finished 5th, and Max Verstappen 8th. A very happy Jolyon Palmer also had his share of running for Lotus in FP1.

PRACTICE ONE RESULTS:

1. Nico Rosberg — 1:10.401
2. Lewis Hamilton — +0.308s
3. Kimi Raikkonen — +0.627s
4. Valtteri Bottas— +1.051s
5. Felipe Nasr — +1.232s
6. Daniil Kvyat— +1.241s
7. Daniel Ricciardo — +1.323s
8. Max Verstappen — +1.424s
9. Felipe Massa — +1.489s
10. Sergio Perez — +1.504s