Button had warned on Thursday it was unlikely anyone would be in a position to
challenge Mercedes, despite all teams bringing a major upgrade package to
this event, and on first inspection his words appeared to carry plenty of
truth.
At least the 34-year-old’s McLaren was the best of the rest, with Button
second, ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, the only other driver to
finish within a second of Hamilton as the Australian was 0.950secs adrift.
As for team-mate Sebastian Vettel, an electrical issue with his Red Bull cut
short the reigning four-time champion’s session to just four laps and 25
minutes.
Vettel, running with a new chassis this weekend in a bid to find a cure for
his poor form so far, was forced to pull off the track as his car ground to
a halt.
After being wheeled back into a side exit, the RB10 was returned to the garage
on the back of a flat-bed truck.
Although the team had 50 minutes to work on the problem, they were unable to
get Vettel back out on the circuit, leaving him down in 20th place on the
timesheet, with only the Caterhams of Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson
behind him.
With Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo in the paddock, Fernando Alonso
hauled his car up to fourth, albeit 1.1secs behind Hamilton, with team-mate
Kimi Raikkonen sixth.
Sandwiched between them was Nico Rosberg, who had declared his hope on
Thursday for a less problematic weekend than occurred at the last race in
China where he encountered numerous issues.
Rosberg, however, only managed nine laps in his Mercedes due to a cooling
concern with the ERS (energy recovery system).
McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen and Pastor Maldonado in his Lotus were seventh and
eighth quickest, followed by Sergio Perez in his Force India.
Perez, though, was forced to kick his heels in the garage for over half an
hour as his team fixed an unusual problem – a loose wing mirror.
The Mexican had to drive one-handed at one point as he tried to stop the
mirror from flapping around inside the cockpit of his car before returning
to the pits for repairs.
Sauber reserve Giedo van der Garde suffered a more serious moment of
consternation when his brakes failed at the end of the pit straight on the
approach to turn one.
Fans behind the barriers ducked for cover as Van der Garde speared through the
gravel, narrowly avoiding a crash.
In recovering the car and returning to the track, the Dutchman was then able
to tour back to the garage where he remained for the final 28 minutes.
Positions after first practice:
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes 1min 27.023secs
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:27.891
3 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 1:27.973
4 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:28.128
5 Nico Rosberg (Spa) Mercedes 1:28.168
6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:27.337
7 Kevin Magnussen (Den) McLaren 1:28.423
8 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Lotus 1:28.744
9 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 1:28.779
10 Felipe Massa (Bra) Williams 1:28.791
11 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Toro Rosso 1:28.792
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India 1:28.828
13 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso 1:28.859
14 Felipe Nasr (Bra) Williams 1:29.772
15 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Sauber 1:29.688
16 Jules Bianchi (Fra) Marussia 1:29.820
17 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus 1:29.944
18 Giedo van der Garde (Ned) Sauber 1:30.440
19 Max Chilton (Gbr) Marussia 1:30.748
20 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:30.942
21 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Caterham 1:30.997
22 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Caterham 1:31.421