SILVERSTONE, Great Britain -- Mercedes dominated the opening practice session for the British Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg split by 0.033s while holding an advantage of more than 0.8s over the rest of the field.
If the gap stays the same throughout the rest of the weekend, the Mercedes drivers look set for another private battle at the front of the field -- albeit under new "rules of engagement" laid down by the Mercedes management following their collision in Austria.
Force India's Nico Hulkenberg was Mercedes' closest competitor, but still 0.833s shy of Hamilton's fastest time. What's more Hulkenberg used the soft tyre to set his quickest lap while both Mercedes drivers stuck solely to the slower medium compound. Hulkenberg's time would have been quick enough for third on last year's grid -- just behind the two Mercedes on the 2015 grid -- while Hamilton would have beat his pole position time by nearly 0.6s.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was fourth fastest with a time 0.838s off Hamilton, but was also on the soft compound when he set his best time. If that wasn't bad enough, he slowed on the Hangar Straight with an apparent gearbox problem at the end of the session and crawled back to the pits. At the start of the session he ran a single installation lap with the latest Halo head protection device attached, offering a glimpse of what to expect from the final design in 2017.
Daniel Ricciardo was fifth fastest after using the medium tyre to set the quickest lap in the Red Bull, but was still over 1.1s off the pace of Hamilton, underlining the advantage Mercedes appears to have. With his future secure at Ferrari for another year, Kimi Raikkonen set the sixth fastest time using the soft tyre, but was a whopping 1.385s off Hamilton. Max Verstappen was seventh fastest on the medium tyre, but unlike Red Bull teammate Ricciardo, set his time on a longer run on the medium tyres.
Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso rounded out the top ten, with Alonso and Jenson Button in 12th running McLaren's upgraded Honda engine for the first time. Williams appeared to focus on mileage, with a total of 72 laps between its two drivers, who finished the session 13th and 14th.
Ferrari Academy driver Charles Leclerc made his Formula One debut in the Haas, completing 26 laps at the wheel of Esteban Gutierrez's car. He spun at Village Corner but still put in a respectable performance, using medium tyres to set a time 1.322s off Haas regular Romain Grosjean.
Esteban Ocon also made an FP1 appearance for Renault, taking over Kevin Magnussen's car for the 90-minute session. He completed 18 laps on the mediums and was 1.193s off Jolyon Palmer in the sister car using softs.