Rosberg tops Hamilton in opening Japanese GP practice

Nico Rosberg

Mercedes were at their dominant best as practice got underway in Japan on Friday morning, with world championship leader Nico Rosberg lapping two tenths of a second quicker than teammate and title rival Lewis Hamilton.

Ferrari were the Silver Arrows’ closest challengers, but Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were over a second off the pace in third and fourth, with the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen – who opted not to use the yellow-marked soft tyre – several tenths further back.

The top ten was completed by the Force Indias of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez, the McLaren of Fernando Alonso – who suffered an early off at Spoon Curve – and the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.

Alonso wasn’t the only driver to test the Suzuka barriers – Romain Grosjean also went off, nosing his Haas in the tires at Degner after a big lock-up.

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