Sochi Practice 1: Rosberg leads Mercedes 1-2

The Aldo Costa Mercedes’ continued their complete dominance of Formula 1 by topping the opening free practice session for the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi.

Nico Rosberg put up a time of 1m38.127s and outdrove teammate Lewis Hamilton by 0.722 seconds using the same Pirelli SuperSoft tire compound.

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel prevailed in the ‘best of the rest’ category to take third ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Williams driver Felipe Massa. But was Ferrari sandbagging?

Both Ferrari drivers opted to run medium and then soft tires during the session, compared to the Mercedes strategy of soft then super-soft – meaning the Ferrari drivers were on harder rubber and have not shown their hand yet.

Valtteri Bottas was seventh fastest behind Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull.

Daniil Kvyat was eighth in the second Red Bull, but spun at the next to last corner corner while on a better lap.

Force India driver Sergio Perez was ninth with Carlos Sainz Jr 10th and the best non-Ferrari driver using softs.

Results