2014 Japanese Grand Prix Friday - Practice
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This is the home crowd's first sight of Kobayashi in action as his car was taken by Roberto Merhi for practice one.
Romain Grosjean's Lotus and Kamui Kobayashi's Caterham follow the Marussia onto the track.
Verstappen, meanwhile, is back in normal team clothes and watching on from the back of the garage.
Jean-Eric Vergne is paying close attention to the work going on in the Toro Rosso garage. He handed his car over to his 2015 replacement, Max Verstappen, for FP1, but the teenager suffered an engine failure in the closing stages.
We know that changing a 2014-spec F1 engine is not the work of a moment, so Toro Rosso is working flat out to get its race driver some mileage today.
We know that changing a 2014-spec F1 engine is not the work of a moment, so Toro Rosso is working flat out to get its race driver some mileage today.
First out is Max Chilton, which is the exact opposite of this morning, when he was stranded in the pits at first.
Green flag
The green light shows and practice two begins in Japan.
Breaking news
One theme to follow over the remaining races of the season is going to be engine changes and the resulting penalties, as drivers start to run out of their original allocation of permitted engine components.
It's little surprise to see Lotus falling foul of this stipulation - and Pastor Maldonado will take a grid penalty this weekend for using a sixth internal combustion engine.
It's little surprise to see Lotus falling foul of this stipulation - and Pastor Maldonado will take a grid penalty this weekend for using a sixth internal combustion engine.
The weather is a huge talking point this weekend with a typhoon expected to make its way to Suzuka at some point. However, conditions are sunny at the moment as we await the start of FP2.
As was the case with FP1, we appreciate you joining us away from 'normal' F1 hours.
This morning's first session was relatively incident free, which is not always the case when we visit Japan. But, save for a few small offs at the Degner turns and some people hitting trouble at Spoon Curve, the drivers didn't have too much to worry about.
This morning's first session was relatively incident free, which is not always the case when we visit Japan. But, save for a few small offs at the Degner turns and some people hitting trouble at Spoon Curve, the drivers didn't have too much to worry about.
Welcome back - the countdown to FP2 is well and truly on at Suzuka.
That's it for our coverage of first practice from Japan. For those of you in Europe, thanks very much for joining us this early in the morning. If you're following us in other parts of the world, we hope you've enjoyed having a session to keep up with at a more sociable time for once!
We'll be back in a little over a couple of hours to do it all again for FP2. See you then.
We'll be back in a little over a couple of hours to do it all again for FP2. See you then.
Breaking news
Here's our comprehensive report from that first session of the weekend, plus the complete run down of results and lap count:
Rosberg leads opening Suzuka practice
Rosberg leads opening Suzuka practice
Rosberg and Ricciardo completed the most laps in that session - 27.
Hulkenberg is bottom of that particular tally, completing just 9 laps this morning.
Hulkenberg is bottom of that particular tally, completing just 9 laps this morning.
Verstappen ended the session 2.696s off the pace in 12th, just 0.4s slower than team-mate Kvyat.
Just 0.151s separates the Mercedes drivers at the top of the order. 3rd placed Alonso is +0.576s, but he's the only other driver within one second of the Silver Arrows. Bottas is 1.115s back in fourth.
Verstappen is back in the Toro Rosso garage, and he looks pretty happy with his first taste of track action on an F1 weekend.
Race driver Jean-Eric Vergne might not be so happy - he'll be wondering if Toro Rosso has any chance of getting his car ready for FP2 after that engine failure.
Race driver Jean-Eric Vergne might not be so happy - he'll be wondering if Toro Rosso has any chance of getting his car ready for FP2 after that engine failure.
Results:
1 Rosberg
2 Hamilton
3 Alonso
4 Bottas
5 Raikkonen
6 Magnussen
7 Ricciardo
8 Button
9 Vettel
10 Kvyat
11 Massa
12 Verstappen
13 Perez
14 Hulkenberg
15 Grosjean
16 Sutil
17 Maldonado
18 Gutierrez
19 Ericsson
20 Merhi
21 Bianchi
22 Chilton
1 Rosberg
2 Hamilton
3 Alonso
4 Bottas
5 Raikkonen
6 Magnussen
7 Ricciardo
8 Button
9 Vettel
10 Kvyat
11 Massa
12 Verstappen
13 Perez
14 Hulkenberg
15 Grosjean
16 Sutil
17 Maldonado
18 Gutierrez
19 Ericsson
20 Merhi
21 Bianchi
22 Chilton
Twitter
@CaterhamF1: Roberto steps out of the car with a big smile on his face. His FP1 ends after 24 laps & best time of 1:41.472
Checkered flag
The chequered flag is out. Fourteen drivers still on track finishing laps.
Magnussen's also not happy: "What is going on with these tyres? I have absolutely no grip."
Vettel's radio: "I'm losing grip in the last two laps - all around, but mostly rear."
There's the odd better sector time from the likes of Grosjean and Gutierrez, but no sign of position changes with one minute left.
There was a part of Verstappen's radio message that we left out, simply because we couldn't come up with a way to spell his impression of the noise his engine was making as it failed.
Everyone is plugging round on longer runs now bar the Force Indias, Merhi and the stranded Verstappen.
"I have a problem with the engine, it's not pulling anymore. I have smoke out of the engine - what do I do?" - Verstappen's radio when the problems hit.
Max Verstappen
All in all it's been a decent session for the newcomer. Suzuka is a ruthless circuit to have to make your F1 weekend debut, but from what we've seen this session has gone without a hitch from a driving point of view.
The teenager slowed in the esses, and he's pulled over at a gap in the barriers.
Yellow flag
Verstappen pulls off the track - smoke coming from the back of the Toro Rosso.
By comparison, the F14 T looks a dream to drive as Raikkonen's former team-mate Grosjean goes off at Spoon Curve in the always-tricky to drive Lotus.
And if you've got an eye on Verstappen, he's still 12th, 0.443s behind team-mate Kvyat.
Raikkonen is wrestling the Ferrari on this lap, his hands sawing at the wheel.
Order into final 10 mins: 1 Rosberg; 2 Hamilton; 3 Alonso; 4 Bottas; 5 Raikkonen; 6 Magnussen; 7 Ricciardo; 8 Button; 9 Vettel; 10 Kvyat.
Twitter
@CaterhamF1: The new front wing is fitted onto @Ericsson_Marcus' car. He will be out shortly
All the current top 10 drivers plus Verstappen, Grosjean and the Caterhams are on the track, though everyone is off their earlier pace.
Magnussen runs very wide at Spoon Curve, and after a long, painful run through the asphalt run-off, he rejoins with a very dirty set of Pirelli tyres.
Nico Rosberg
On their second laps of this heavier run, it's now Hamilton 0.7s faster than Rosberg in the first sector.
Lots of sparks coming from the bottom of Vettel's car as he runs through 130R.
It's a 1m40.657s for Rosberg and a 1m42.167s for Hamilton.
Looks like the Mercedes are onto heavier fuel loads now, they're both 2.5s off their previous pace in sector one.
That was a busy outlap for Rosberg, who was playing with several settings on his steering wheel before starting this hotlap.
By: AUTOSPORT staff, Glenn Freeman, Matt Beer, Ben Anderson
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