In posting a time of one minute 37.106seconds, Hamilton finished 1.010secs
quicker than Rosberg, albeit 3.4secs slower than Sebastian Vettel’s pole lap
of last year.
Rosberg’s team-mate, seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, was 0.2secs down
on his fellow German, with the duo followed by the Saubers of Sergio Perez
and Kamui Kobayashi.
Webber ultimately finished 1.871secs adrift of Hamilton, who this weekend
faces a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
The issue was discovered earlier this week, with the team opting to run the
old gearbox today ahead of changing it for tomorrow ahead of qualifying.
The remainder of the field, spearheaded by reigning world champion Sebastian
Vettel in seventh, were all at least two seconds down.
That included Button who was only a thousandth of a second behind Vettel, but
2.093secs off of Hamilton, with the Toro Rosso pair of Daniel Ricciardo and
Jean-Eric Vergne completing the top 10, but with both 2.6secs off the pace.
They were followed by the Ferraris of championship leader Fernando Alonso and
Felipe Massa nearly three seconds back.
Three reserve drivers in Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, Giedo van der Garde at
Caterham and Force India’s Jules Bianci were all given a run out, finishing
13th, 19th and 20th respectively.
Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen, who struggled with a rear-wing issue, was left at the
back of the field, the Finn 13.3secs down.
First practice times:
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mclaren-Mercedes 1min 37.106secs
2 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1:38.116
3 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 1:38.316
4 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 1:38.584
5 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 1:38.911
6 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:38.977
7 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 1:39.198
8 Jenson Button (Gbr) Mclaren-Mercedes 1:39.199
9 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:39.748
10 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:39.768
11 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:40.056
12 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:40.153
13 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams-Renault 1:40.298
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 1:40.328
15 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams-Renault 1:40.540
16 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Caterham-Renault 1:41.071
17 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus-Renault 1:41.204
18 Timo Glock (Ger) Marussia-Cosworth 1:42.330
19 Giedo Van Der Garde (Ned) Caterham-Renault 1:42.521
20 Jules Bianchi (Fra) Force India-Mercedes 1:44.118
21 Pedro De La Rosa (Spa) Hrt-Cosworth 1:44.227
22 Charles Pic (Fra) Marussia-Cosworth 1:44.500
23 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Hrt-Cosworth 1:47.204
24 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus-Renault 1:50.465