F1-EL1: Rosberg and Mercedes in the lead in Sochi

Nico Rosberg set the best time in the first practice session for the Russian Grand Prix with a lap completed in 1'42"311. The German was only six hundredths ahead of the W05 of Lewis Hamilton. The two drivers of the team Brackley have, however, complained of vibration problems. THE McLaren also performed well since Jenson Button is the closest with two tenths behind while his teammate Kevin Magnussen completes the top five behind Fernando Alonso which is almost half a second behind the reference.

The Toro Rosso also showed themselves to be competitive. Daniil Kvyat set the seventh fastest time behind the Force India of Sergio Pérez and the Ferrari by Kimi Räikkönen which precedes STR9 by Jean-Éric Vergne. THE Williams de Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa are in the middle of the pack, but the Finn was only able to complete nine laps before encountering problems with his second set of medium tires.

The Red Bull on the other hand, were discreet since Daniel Ricciardo only finished in 12th place while Sebastian Vettel is in 14th place with more than two seconds behind the best time. The Saubers and the Lotuses seem at the same level even if Sergey Sirotkin, who replaced Esteban Gutiérrez this morning, was ahead of the E22 by a tenth. Romain Grosjean only 18th. The Frenchman complained of a significant lack of power. The former GP2 champion is ahead of the Caterham of Roberto Merhi who was driving instead of Kamui Kobayashi. Marussia F1 Team will only work for Max Chilton this weekend, the team having decided to run only one single-seater out of respect for Jules Bianchi.

The second practice session for the Russian Grand Prix will be contested from midday French time.