SUZUKA, Japan -- Nico Rosberg set the fastest lap time during first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, finishing the session 0.215s clear of Lewis Hamilton in second.
The two Mercedes stuck mainly to the soft compound -- the fastest tyre in Pirelli's range this weekend -- using two different sets during the session over four individual runs. Rosberg held a 0.174s advantage in the middle sector, which includes the Degner corners, the hairpin and Spoon, with marginal gaps between the two Mercedes drivers in sectors one and two.
Ferrari emerged as Mercedes' closest rivals in first practice, but were both over a second slower than Rosberg's benchmark time. Sebastian Vettel was 0.292s faster than teammate Kimi Raikkonen, with another 0.295s to Daniel Ricciardo in fifth. However, Red Bull only ran hard and medium tyres during the session, meaning there will be more to come from Ricciardo and Max Verstappen when they bolt on the soft compound in the afternoon.
Force India secured seventh and eighth, with Nico Hulkenberg 0.237 quicker than teanmmate Sergio Perez, who ran the Halo for a series of quick laps early in the session. Fernando Alonso was ninth using the medium compound tyres, but spun into the barriers at Spoon on his 11th lap. Damage to his car's exhaust brought an early end to his session, while there was also damage to the rear wing.
Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top ten ahead of the two Toro Rossos and Jenson Button, who is not running the same updated Honda engine block as Alonso this weekend. Romain Grosjean was 14th fastest but ran wide at the second Degner midway through the session and damaged his front wing against the barrier. He managed to reverse out of the gravel trap and rejoin the track, but the repairs limited him to just 17 laps over the full 90 minutes.
From 15th place to 19th there was a mix of cars led by Sauber's Felipe Nasr ahead of Williams's Felipe Massa, Haas' Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber's Marcus Ericsson and Renault's Kevin Magnussen. The two Manors were roughly a second slower than Magnussen, with Jolyon Palmer at the bottom of the timesheets after an electrical problem limited his running to 13 laps.