Rosberg leads Mercedes 1-2 in first practice

Nico Rosberg led a Mercedes one-two in the opening practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona.

Mercedes AMG F1 W06 sidepod winglet detail

Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 with fans

(L to R): Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Racing and Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing sign autographs for the fans

The German driver set a best time of 1:26.818 in the updated Mercedes to finish less than a tenth of a second ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Mercedes dominated the session, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel finishing in third, but nearly a full second behind Rosberg.

Vettel's teammate Kimi Raikkonen was fourth quickest ahead of local hero Carlos Sainz, who started his home race in promising fashion for Toro Rosso. Teammate Max Verstappen finished right behind in sixth.

Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat trialled the team's new short nose, finally introduced after some failed attempts in the crash tests, and went seventh fastest, ahead of Felipe Massa in the Williams.

Kvyat's teammate Daniel Ricciardo, already using his fourth Renault engine, reported power unit problems right at the start of the session and had to spend a lot of time in the pits while his mechanics worked on the problem.

The Australian did not return to the track until there were just eight minutes left on the clock and managed just nine laps on his way to the ninth fastest time.

Felipe Nasr completed the top 10 in the Sauber.

The McLaren of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button finished down in 15th and 16th respectively, the Spaniard finishing his session with a spin.

Sauber's Raffaele Marciello was quickest of the three Friday drivers in action today, the Italian finishing 12th ahead of the Lotus of Jolyon Palmer and Susie Wolff in the Williams.

F1 - Spanish GP 2015 - Free Practice 1
	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
01	N. Rosberg	Mercedes	1:26.828		28
02	L. Hamilton	Mercedes	1:26.898	+0.070	27
03	S. Vettel	Ferrari	1:27.806	+0.978	21
04	K. Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:27.832	+1.004	16
05	C. Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:28.132	+1.304	27
06	M. Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:28.529	+1.701	23
07	D. Kvyat	Red Bull	1:28.785	+1.957	7
08	F. Massa	Williams	1:28.831	+2.003	21
09	D. Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:29.075	+2.247	9
10	F. Nasr	Sauber	1:29.140	+2.312	14
11	N. Hulkenberg	Force India	1:29.409	+2.581	20
12	R. Marciello	Sauber	1:29.630	+2.802	15
13	J. Palmer	Lotus	1:29.676	+2.848	21
14	S. Wolff	Williams	1:29.708	+2.880	22
15	F. Alonso	McLaren	1:29.813	+2.985	22
16	J. Button	McLaren	1:29.817	+2.989	22
17	S. Perez	Force India	1:30.096	+3.268	19
18	P. Maldonado	Lotus	1:30.110	+3.282	7
19	W. Stevens	Manor	1:32.471	+5.643	22
20	R. Merhi	Manor	1:32.647	+5.819	20