Nico Rosberg has picked up in Silverstone where he left off in Austria by finishing the first practice session for the British Grand Prix as the fastest driver.
The world championship leader posted a fastest lap of 1:35.424 this morning, finishing some seven-tenths of a second clear of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in a session disrupted by incidents.
Susie Wolff made history by becoming the first female driver to take part in a grand prix weekend session in 22 years, but her practice lasted just 20 minutes after an engine-related failure on the Williams car. Teammate Felipe Massa saw his session come to an end just a few minutes later when he crashed on the exit of Stowe.
The crash was severe enough to warrant a red flag, and although Massa walked away unharmed, Williams has a big job on its hands to get the car ready for FP2 this afternoon. All the while, the other drivers tried to keep to their normal plan despite the red flag costing them 15 minutes of track time.
Caterham also had a tough session as reserve driver Robin Frijns encountered a problem on his car, whilst Marcus Ericsson spun out at Stowe. Pastor Maldonado didn’t even post a time after his Lotus stopped at the end of the pit lane.
At the front, it was business as usual for Mercedes as Rosberg and Hamilton secured yet another one-two finish. Fernando Alonso finished a respectable third for Ferrari, whilst Daniel Ricciardo showed signs of improvement at Red Bull in fourth place.
You can see if Mercedes’ good form continues in FP2 later today, with the session being broadcast on NBCSN and Live Extra from 9am ET.
