Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes beat McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton to set the pace in first practice at the European Grand Prix.
Rosberg set a best lap of one minute 41.175 seconds to head Hamilton, the world championship leader, by 0.164secs at the Valencia street track in Spain.
Jenson Button was third, 0.208secs off the pace, ahead of Renault’s Robert Kubica and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, whose teams are trying major new parts.
The Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were sixth and seventh.
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Formula 1: Nico Rosberg Fastest in First Practice at Valencia
Much attention is focused on Ferrari, who have fitted to their car a new exhaust system that follows the trend set by pace-setters Red Bull. BBC Sport
Behind him, Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes GP on 1m 42.312s, Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari on 1m 42.421s, the Williams of Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg on 1m 42.463s and 1m 42.707s respectively, and Renault’s Vitaly Petrov on 1m 42.962s.
Sebastien Buemi was 13th for Toro Rosso, ahead of Vitantonio Liuzzi’s Force India on 1m 43.380s, Pedro de la Rosa’s BMW Sauber on 1m 43.397s and Paul di Resta, who was substituting again at Force India for Adrian Sutil, on 1m 43.437s. Kamui Kobayashi completed the sub 1m 44s runners with 1m 43.729s for BMW Sauber.
Home boy Jaime Alguersuari was 18th for Toro Rosso with 1m 44.183s, while Heikki Kovalainen got Lotus’s 500th race off to a great start by getting closer than the team ever have to a midfield outfit with a lap in 1m 44.491s. Timo Glock was next on 1m 45.653s for Virgin, then came Bruno Senna on 1m 47.123s for HRT, Jarno Trulli shaking down his new Lotus T127 chassis with 1m 47.285s, Christian Klien who was deputising for HRT’s Karun Chandhok for this session only on 1m 47.343s, and Lucas di Grassi in the second Virgin on 1m 47.356s. Formula 1
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired 1 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 01:41.2 2 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:41.3 3 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:41.4 4 11 Robert Kubica Renault 01:41.7 5 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:42.2 6 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:42.2 7 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:42.3 8 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 01:42.3 9 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:42.4 10 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:42.5 11 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 01:42.7 12 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:43.0 13 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 01:43.3 14 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 01:43.4 15 22 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:43.4 16 14 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 01:43.4 17 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:43.7 18 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 01:44.2 19 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 01:44.5 20 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:45.7 21 21 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 01:47.1 22 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 01:47.3 23 20 Christian Klien HRT-Cosworth 01:47.3 24 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 01:47.4
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