Russian GP F1 practice: Vettel fastest from Verstappen in FP1

The margin at the top of the timesheets between the two was just 0.050 seconds, both times being set on the hypersoft tyre.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was third quickest, 0.3s down on championship rival Vettel but like his team-mate Valtteri Bottas (who was fourth fastest) he set his best time running on the soft tyre.

Daniel Ricciardo was fifth overall, but had to sit out most of practice after he came into the pits early with smoke billowing from the rear of his Red Bull. His mechanics took the floor off his car to investigate the problem, having planned to make a floor change at that point anyway.

Ricciardo will face a grid penalty for Sunday's race for power unit changes, along with his team-mate Verstappen and three other drivers: Toro Rosso duo Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley and also Fernando Alonso (McLaren).

Friday morning's first practice session at Sochi took place in warm and overcast conditions without any major incident. There was spin by Williams's Lance Stroll half an hour before the end of the session, while early on Lando Norris also looped his McLaren around at Turn 4.

Norris was one of four driver changes for the opening session of the weekend, taking over Alonso's seat, while local driver Artem Markelov was in for Carlos Sainz Jr at Renault.

Sauber's new signing for 2019, Antonio Giovinazzi stepped in for Marcus Ericssson while Nicholas Latifi replaced Sergio Perez at Force India for the 90-minute session.

Esteban Ocon was sixth fastest for Force India ahead of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari - who set his best time on ultrasofts - and Kevin Magnussen's Haas.

Nico Hulkenberg was ninth in the timesheets but was forced to pit before the end of the session with an issue with his Renault.

FP1 times