» Rosberg fastest in FP1 at Hockenheim

Despite many rumours that the ban on FRIC suspension would hamper Mercedes’ performance, they showed no signs of slowing down as Nico Rosberg went fastest, 0.3 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso in third.

Lewis Hamilton wasn’t far off team-mate Rosberg in second, just six-one-hundredths of a second split the two in the opening session of the weekend.

Susie Wolff replaced Valtteri Bottas in the Williams for her second consecutive FP1 session this year, however there were fears that just like in Silverstone she would only complete the one lap.

On her out lap, Wolff reported a gearbox problem as she was stuck in gear and the problem seemed to go from bad to worse when the oil pressure light came on her dash. Wolff was able to limp back to the garage where the team was able to quickly mend the gearbox, allowing her to continue on in her session.

Wolff silenced whatever critics she had left as she finished in 15^th position, just 0.2 seconds off Felipe Massa in 11^th.

Giedo van der Garde also made an appearance in FP1, replacing Esteban Gutiérrez in the Sauber.

Van der Garde completed 23 laps and placed 16^th at the end of the session, only a couple of tenths behind Adrian Sutil in the other Sauber. Good signs for both Sauber and Van der Garde, as he’s been linked with a full-time drive with the team in 2015.

Both Red Bull and McLaren had a good session all placing in the top 10. Daniel Ricciardo was 0.4 seconds ahead of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel while Jenson Button finished 0.2 seconds in front of Kevin Magnussen.

Lotus look like they’re going to have another struggling weekend as the E22 looked incredibly unstable through the slow corners. Pastor Maldonado seemed to have to manhandle the wheel to turn into Turn Four, while Romain Grosjean encountered problems of a different kind when his rear wing became stuck as the DRS was activated.

Friday’s second practice session at Hockenheim gets underway at 2:00pm local time (GMT +1).

2014 German Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 Results:

	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05	1:19.131		29
2.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05	1:19.196	+ 0.065	25
3.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F14T	1:19.423	+ 0.292	21
4.	Daniel Ricciardo	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10	1:19.697	+ 0.566	27
5.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-29	1:19.833	+ 0.702	24
6.	Sebastian Vettel	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10	1:20.097	+ 0.966	28
7.	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren Mercedes MP4-29	1:20.105	+ 0.974	32
8.	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari F14T	1:20.210	+ 1.079	21
9.	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9	1:20.337	+ 1.206	28
10.	Adrian Sutil	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33	1:20.505	+ 1.374	18
11.	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36	1:20.542	+ 1.411	19
12.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9	1:20.586	+ 1.455	23
13.	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07	1:20.592	+ 1.461	22
14.	Sergio Pérez	Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07	1:20.598	+ 1.467	24
15.	Susie Wolff	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36	1:20.769	+ 1.638	22
16.	Giedo van der Garde	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33	1:20.782	+ 1.651	23
17.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team Renault E22	1:21.603	+ 2.472	20
18.	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team Renault E22	1:21.854	+ 2.273	30
19.	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05	1:22.572	+ 3.441	31
20.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03	1:22.982	+ 3.851	24
21.	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05	1:23.256	+ 4.125	35
22.	Max Chilton	Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03	1:23.299	+ 4.168	22