Hamilton’s Mercedes has excelled for almost a second over Button. McLarens have been the ones that made most laps in a first session full of mechanic problems for Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel.
Despite the great performance of the British driver, his teammate Nico Rosberg was unable to drive for a long time. He made nine laps during the beginning of the session, but stopped and the car was in pieces. The mechanics removed the flat bottom of the car and seemed like they intended to reach batteries. The question is whether everything will be solved for the second session.
Another troubled driver was Sebastian Vettel. He stopped his car in the middle of the track and worked as an official, helping to lift the car up and continuously spraying the back with a provided fire extinguisher. He wants to go back to being the driver who was last year, but still unhappy and uncomfortable.
McLaren, meanwhile, are working well again: marked good times and taken many turns. Alonso also stayed on truck in front of his audience, setting the fourth fastest time behind Daniel Ricciardo.
The Lotus Renault also took profit of the session and were sometimes the only drivers on track. Any corrections made by Maldonado and Grosjean in order to keep the car on the line suggest that improvements are still insufficient.
The second practice session is at 14:00 local time.
UPDATE:
Red Bull Racing confirmed that Sebastian Vettel will not take part in FP2 for electric problems.
Timetable: