Friday, 3 October 2014

Rosberg leads the way in Free Practice One in Japan as Verstappen makes his debut

(Mercedes AMG F1 Team)

Mercedes AMG F1 Team's Nico Rosberg lead a team 1-2 in the opening session ahead of Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka circuit. The German set s lap time of 1m 35.461s on a brand new set of the Pirelli P-Zero used Hard tyre's. 

Lewis Hamilton in second place in the second Mercedes car and finished the session with a lap time of 1m 35.612s on a set of used Hard rubber finishing the session just ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. It was a great morning session for Valtteri Bottas and the Williams Martini Racing Team as the Finn ended the session in fourth place just ahead of fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen.

McLaren's Kevin Magnussen was 6th fastest for the McLaren Mercedes team just 1.866s behind Rosberg. Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo was seventh fastest just ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel was ninth fastest for Red Bull Racing finishing the session just ahead of Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat who rounded out the top ten. Felipe Massa was 11th fastest for the Williams Martini Racing Team.

It was a great debut for Formula One rookie Max Verstappen who was driving in place of the man he is replacing Jean Eric Vergne. The Dutch driver completed 22 laps and ended the session just fourth tenths of a second behind team mate Kyvat.

Sahara Force India's Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished the opening session in 13th and 14th place respectively.

The Lotus F1 Team's Romain Grosjean was 15th just ahead of the Sauber F1 Team's Adrian Sutil while Pastor Maldonado was 17th fastest in the second Lotus. Esteban Gutierrez was 18th fastest for the Sauber F1 Team while Marcus Ericsson finished the session in 19th place just ahead of his Caterham team mate Roberto Merhi who was driving in place of hometown favourite Kamui Kobayashi.

Jules Bianchi was 21st finishing the session just ahead of team mate Max Chilton.

© Ben Johnston 2014

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