2016 F1 Round 12 German Grand Prix FP1 – Rosberg leads Hamilton as Haas and Renault run stand-ins

FP1 for the 2016 German Grand Prix took place at Hockenheim on Friday morning. Home favourite Nico Rosberg led with a 1:15.517, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton was 0.326 seconds behind as the two Mercedes cars again occupied the top positions.

Reference illustration of the Hockenheim circuit layout.

Rosberg had already set a 1:17.030 on soft tyres before switching to supersofts and improving his best to 1:15.517. He completed 32 laps, combining single-lap pace with track data from the opening session of the weekend.

Hamilton completed 30 laps and finished second. Fernando Alonso briefly led early on, but the leading position soon changed hands as the major teams switched tyres and increased their pace.

Sebastian Vettel was third, 1.150 seconds behind Rosberg, with Kimi Räikkönen fourth. The two Ferraris finished ahead of Max Verstappen in fifth and Daniel Ricciardo in sixth, leaving three teams clearly grouped in the top six during the first practice session.

McLaren’s Alonso and Jenson Button were seventh and eighth, while Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz occupied ninth and tenth. The midfield teams were some way off the fastest time, but both McLarens made the top ten.

Haas put Charles Leclerc in Esteban Gutiérrez’s car for FP1, while Renault gave Esteban Ocon a run in Jolyon Palmer’s place. Leclerc and Ocon completed their practice work, with the regular drivers due to return for FP2 in the afternoon.

Grip at Turn 1 challenged several drivers. Valtteri Bottas spun at the hairpin, and Romain Grosjean had a half-spin at Turn 9. Both continued, and the incidents did not interrupt the session.

Rosberg set the early pace on his home Grand Prix weekend, with Hamilton close behind. The order between Ferrari and Red Bull provided a fresh comparison for the afternoon session. The teams still needed to assess tyre performance to judge whether the single-lap gaps would carry over.