Malaysia EL1: Rosberg dominates, Hamilton stopped

Contrasted results in the clan Mercedes after the first laps of the wheels on the Sepang track in Malaysia this Friday morning. If Nico Rosberg placed a Silver Arrow at the top of the timesheet thanks to a time established in 1'40″124, the second car German met a problem on the Power Unit, preventing the world champion Lewis Hamilton to sign a time in the session.

Behind Rosberg, the response came of the clan Ferrari since Räikkönen is placed less than four tenths of the W06 n°6 in front of his teammate Sebastian Vettel, the last driver to go under the 1'41 lap mark. Romain Grosjean places its Lotus E23 Hybrid in fourth position and ahead of three single-seaters powered by the V6 turbo / hybrid Renault : Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) and Max Verstappen (Rosso Bull).

Valtteri Bottas (Williams) back after his back injury in Melbourne ranks 8th ahead of the RB11 of Daniil Kvyat and the Sauber C34 of Marcus Ericsson who completes the top 10. For his return to the circuits, Fernando Alonso finished 14th driving the McLaren-Honda MP4-30 just behind the Sauber of Italian Raffaele Marciello, on track for these tests in Malaysia. The Manor of Stevens, 18th (and in the 107%) and Merhi, 19th, finally took to the track, the Spaniard however encountering a mechanical problem having immobilized him for most of the session.