Nico Rosberg leads FP1 in Spa

In the first practice session in Belgium, Nico Rosberg set the pace ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen as the teams and drivers return to the Formula One paddock after a four week Summer break.

With twenty-five minutes left in the session, Renault's Jolyon Palmer advised his team via the radio that there was a problem with the car and that the car “didn't feel right” after exiting the Les Combes corner. Palmer managed to slowly but more importantly safely back to the garage in order for the team to fix the problem, despite him losing drive.

But it was Nico Rosberg who was fastest with a lap time of 1:48.348 ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second place who was 0.730 seconds behind him and ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in third place who was 0.799 seconds behind Rosberg.

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

Romain Grosjean ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Felipe Massa in twelfth place, Marcus Ericsson in thirteenth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in fourteenth place and Felipe Nasr in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, F1 debutante Esteban Ocon ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Daniil Kvyat in seventeenth place, Jenson Button in eighteenth place, Pascal Wehrlein in nineteenth place, Kevin Magnussen in twentieth place and Jolyon Palmer in twenty-first place. Fernando Alonso did not take part in the session due to problems with his McLaren-Honda.

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

1.Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.48.348
2.Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.730s
3.Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 0.799s
4.Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 0.926s
5.Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.420s
6.Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.434s
7.Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.517s
8.Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1.740s
9.Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 2.046s
10.Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 2.235s
11.Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 2.551s
12.Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 2.774s
13.Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 2.777s
14.Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 3.076s
15.Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.420s
16.Esteban Ocon, MRT Racing, 3.439s
17.Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 3.960s
18.Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 4.059s
19.Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, 4.489s
20.Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 4.705s
21.Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 4.741s
22.Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, No Time

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa