Rosberg leads the way as Red Bull conserve their pace

Nico Rosberg led a one-two for the Mercedes drivers during the first practice session as Red Bull avoided showing their potential.

Mercedes and Ferrari led the times on the soft rubber but Red Bull did not use the fastest available compounds during the opening session.

Rosberg’s best effort was over a second quicker than any non-Mercedes driver could manage and two-tenths up on his team mate’s time. Behind the Ferraris Daniel Ricciardo was the quicker of the two Red Bulls, 1.6 seconds off

Both Force India drivers were in the top ten having run the soft tyres, unlike rivals Williams and McLaren.

The tricky Suzuka track left some teams with damage to repair. Fernando Alonso’s car got away from him at Spoon early in the session and he went backwards into the barrier. The McLaren driver limped back to the pits with a broken rear wing, but returned to the track later to set the ninth-fastest time.

Not for the first time in recent races, Romain Grosjean had a braking problem on his Haas. He understeered wide in the Degner curves and hit the barrier hard enough to damage his front wing mounting. He too made his way back to the pits, telling his team “the brakes didn’t brake” as he did.

Jolyon Palmer ended the session at the bottom of the times. An electrical problem which limited him to just 13 laps.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’32.431		24
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’32.646	0.215	21
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1’33.525	1.094	19
4	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1’33.817	1.386	17
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1’34.112	1.681	23
6	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1’34.379	1.948	26
7	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1’34.530	2.099	28
8	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1’34.767	2.336	30
9	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	1’35.003	2.572	10
10	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1’35.381	2.950	31
11	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’35.446	3.015	23
12	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’35.672	3.241	27
13	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda	1’35.677	3.246	24
14	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1’35.688	3.257	17
15	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari	1’35.967	3.536	15
16	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1’36.169	3.738	23
17	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas-Ferrari	1’36.219	3.788	21
18	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1’36.294	3.863	19
19	20	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1’36.822	4.391	30
20	31	Esteban Ocon	Manor-Mercedes	1’37.797	5.366	29
21	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor-Mercedes	1’37.966	5.535	24
22	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1’37.992	5.561	13

First practice visual gaps

Nico Rosberg – 1’32.431

+0.215 Lewis Hamilton – 1’32.646

+1.094 Sebastian Vettel – 1’33.525

+1.386 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’33.817

+1.681 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’34.112

+1.948 Max Verstappen – 1’34.379

+2.099 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’34.530

+2.336 Sergio Perez – 1’34.767

+2.572 Fernando Alonso – 1’35.003

+2.950 Valtteri Bottas – 1’35.381

+3.015 Daniil Kvyat – 1’35.446

+3.241 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’35.672

+3.246 Jenson Button – 1’35.677

+3.257 Romain Grosjean – 1’35.688

+3.536 Felipe Nasr – 1’35.967

+3.738 Felipe Massa – 1’36.169

+3.788 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’36.219

+3.863 Marcus Ericsson – 1’36.294

+4.391 Kevin Magnussen – 1’36.822

+5.366 Esteban Ocon – 1’37.797

+5.535 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’37.966

+5.561 Jolyon Palmer – 1’37.992

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

"Feedback on the upshifts and downshifts please mate"
Verstappen: "They're really bad"
"A little bit more please!"#F1 #JapaneseGP
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016

Hulkenberg: "Right-hand-side mirror has gone again, can't see anything there." #F1 #JapaneseGP
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016

Verstappen: "Down-shifts like a handbrake". #F1 #JapaneseGP
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016

Kvyat said: "Oh the octopus is back." Then: "It's quit a small one. A baby octopus." #F1 #JapaneseGP
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016

Kvyat told: "Can think about compromising turn six to help turn seven [Dunlop] performance." #F1 #JapaneseGP
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016

Rosberg: "Problem with some engine cuts." #F1 #JapaneseGP
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016

Bottas told: "OK now two laps of the Bottas saving". #F1 #JapaneseGP
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016

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6 comments on “Rosberg leads the way as Red Bull conserve their pace”

Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
7th October 2016, 3:57
From the creators of “the brakes breaked”, this weekend we have “the brakes didn’t brake”.
Haas really needs to improve on this. It must not be funny to get in a car that you don’t know how’s going to react while braking.
1. zimkazimka (@zimkazimka)
  7th October 2016, 5:21
  Also featuring “a baby octopus”.
2. BasCB (@bascb)
  7th October 2016, 5:44
  Indeed, a serious issue with those brakes.
  1. nase
    7th October 2016, 7:33
    @bascb
    Yeah, that’s pretty worrying. The failure at Sepang was already very scary, and if Haas can’t make sure this won’t happen again, because who knows what might’ve happened had there not been hundreds of metres of obstacle-free runoff, I’d be feeling rather uneasy in Grosjean’s place as well.
Biggsy
7th October 2016, 4:51
I have a feeling we might see McLaren finish ahead of Williams on pure pace this weekend…
At least Fernando’s due to new PU spec.
BOSS
7th October 2016, 5:28
Go Lewus go!