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F1 German GP: Mercedes' Rosberg fastest in FP1 on home soil

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set the pace in first practice for his home Formula 1 grand prix in Germany

Rosberg's time of 1m15.517s spearheaded an unsurprisingly dominant one-two for the Silver Arrows, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton 0.326 seconds adrift.

Its nearest challenger in Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was just over a second back in third.

F1 showed just how far it has come since its last visit to Hockenheim in 2014, with 20 of the 22 drivers quicker than Rosberg's best FP1 time that year.

Rosberg himself was more than three-and—a-half seconds faster than his 1:19.131s lap in that session, when the current turbo hybrid era was only just six months old.

After losing the championship lead he had held all season last weekend in Hungary, Rosberg was quickly on the pace, leading the way early with a 1m17.030s.

With the super-soft tyres then strapped on for the second half of the session, Rosberg was able to improve by almost two seconds, and was never headed.

Reigning champion Hamilton - on a run of five wins from the last six grands prix to take the points lead from Rosberg - was not as smooth as his team-mate throughout a lap, resulting in the three-tenths deficit.

Both drivers were among the many who went off track at Turn 1, which proved particularly problematic to get right as the limits were explored.

Behind the Mercedes duo, Vettel emerged the best of the rest, just over two tenths of a second ahead of Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were fifth and sixth quickest, separated by 0.162s.

On his 35th birthday, Fernando Alonso emerged seventh fastest in his McLaren, 1.666s down on Rosberg.

Alonso was followed by team-mate Jenson Button, seemingly underlining McLaren's recently-declared belief it is now the fourth quickest team in F1 behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

With the timesheets following a team-by-team order, Toro Rosso pair Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr rounded out the top 10, with both around 2.5s down.

Further down the field there were practice outings for Ferrari junior Charles Leclerc with Haas and Renault reserve Esteban Ocon.

Leclerc, standing in Esteban Gutierrez, was 17th, just three places and three tenths of a second behind Romain Grosjean.

Ocon, meanwhile, was 19th and only 0.048s behind Kevin Magnussen, with Jolyon Palmer having made way.

PRACTICE ONE RESULTS:

Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m15.517s - 32
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m15.843s 0.326s 30
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m16.667s 1.150s 29
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m16.852s 1.335s 23
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m16.927s 1.410s 29
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m17.089s 1.572s 30
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m17.183s 1.666s 18
8 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1m17.612s 2.095s 15
9 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m18.008s 2.491s 25
10 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m18.044s 2.527s 22
11 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m18.198s 2.681s 28
12 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m18.210s 2.693s 37
13 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m18.322s 2.805s 33
14 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m18.589s 3.072s 20
15 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m18.591s 3.074s 35
16 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m18.628s 3.111s 29
17 Charles Leclerc Haas/Ferrari 1m18.882s 3.365s 32
18 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1m18.933s 3.416s 35
19 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m18.961s 3.444s 22
20 Esteban Ocon Renault 1m18.981s 3.464s 30
21 Rio Haryanto Manor/Mercedes 1m19.167s 3.650s 34
22 Pascal Wehrlein Manor/Mercedes 1m19.975s 4.458s 33

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