Nico Rosberg leads FP1 as Magnussen's car catches fire in the pitlane

In the first practice session in Sepang, Nico Rosberg leads his team mate Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen in a session which saw the session halted by Kevin Magnussen's fire catching fire in the pitlane.

Seven minutes into the session, we saw Kevin Magnussen’s Renault on fire in the pitlane, with Magnussen jumping out the car quickly. The Renault mechanics managed to put out the fire relatively quickly and safely. It is believed to be the cause of the issue was the engine overheating or an oil leak; even after outing the initial fire it was still leaking and catching fire in the pitlane.

This then brought out the red flag while the Renault team, the marshals and the race director sort out this issue safely and as quickly as possible; with the session resumed just before an hour remaining.
During the session, Carlos Sainz Jr went off the circuit at Turn 7 after locking up his left front.

Sainz Jr managed to resume running on the circuit.
But it was Nico Rosberg who was fastest with a lap time of 1:35.227 ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton in second place who was 0.494 seconds behind him and ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in third place who was 1.088 seconds behind Rosberg.

Sebastian Vettel finished the session in fourth place ahead of Fernando Alonso in fifth place, Daniel Ricciardo in sixth place, Max Verstappen in seventh place, Nico Hulkenberg in eighth place, Sergio Perez in ninth place and Jenson Button who rounded off the top ten finishers.

Daniil Kvyat ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Valtteri Bottas in twelfth place, Romain Grosjean in thirteenth place, Esteban Gutierrez in fourteenth place and Carlos Sainz Jr in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Felipe Nasr ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Marcus Ericsson in seventeenth place, Felipe Massa in eighteenth place, Jolyon Palmer in nineteenth place, Esteban Ocon in twentieth place, Pascal Wehrlein in twenty-first place. Kevin Magnussen did not set a time in the session.

The classification of FP1 for the Malysian GP is as follows:-

1.Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.35.227
2.Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.494s
3.Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.088s
4.Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.104s
5.Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.283s
6.Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.526s
7.Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.746s
8.Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 2.286s
9.Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 2.374s
10.Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 2.386s
11.Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 2.620s
12.Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 2.634s
13.Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 2.659s
14.Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 2.694s
15 Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 2.828s
16.Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 2.957s
17.Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.086s
18.Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 3.112s
19.Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 3.921s
20.Esteban Ocon, MRT Racing, 4.809s
21.Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, 5.400s
22.Kevin Magnussen, Renault, No Time

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa