Rosberg quickest, Alonso and Vettel hit trouble

© XPB 

Nico Rosberg set the fastest time of FP1 for the Austrian Grand Prix as both Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel suffered from reliability issues.

On a cool Friday morning in Austria, Rosberg posted a best lap of 1:10.401 on the soft tyre to lead team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.3s. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was third on a 1:11.028, but his team-mate Sebastian Vettel propped up the standings after stopping on track after four laps.

Vettel had just completed his first timed lap - over 5s off the pace - when he ground to a halt out of Turn 1, pulling off track with smoke coming from his brakes. The Ferrari was parked in a position where it could be recovered and was back in the garage with a little under an hour of the session remaining, but Vettel never rejoined.

The quadruple world champion was still not the first driver to suffer problems, however, with Alonso failing to even complete one full lap before his McLaren hit trouble. Alonso radioed in to tell the team his engine had cut out at Turn 8, with his momentum allowing him to coast down the pit lane back to the garage.

Alonso attempted to return to the track after an hour of the session but moved forward an inch before looking round at his mechanics and remaining in the garage. The Spaniard eventually rejoined to complete 10 laps but never ran the new McLaren front wing, ending the session 2.8s off the pace.

Jenson Button was just 0.3s ahead of his team-mate as McLaren began the weekend over 2.5s off the pace and only a second ahead of Will Stevens in the Manor. The result will not be overly surprising for McLaren, with the team expecting to struggle on a circuit where power unit performance is critical.

While the Mercedes drivers were the only two to dip in to the 1m10s, both had off-track moments as low grip levels made life difficult throughout FP1. Hamilton had been set to challenge Rosberg's time before he went off at the penultimate corner and then locked up heavily in to Turn 1, failing to improve after those excursions.

Fourth was Valtteri Bottas as Williams again looked competitive in Austria - a circuit where it took a 1-2 in qualifying last year - with Felipe Nasr fifth for Sauber ahead of the two Red Bulls of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo. Max Verstappen, Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez completed the top ten, though Massa was part of a near-miss in the pit lane.

The Williams was released from its pit box in the opening stages of the session just as Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene attempted to cross the pit lane in front of him. Fortunately, Massa spotted Arrivabene and stopped, allowing the Italian to jump back out of the way before apologising.

Click here for F1i's exclusive interview with Daniel Ricciardo

Click here for the F1 drivers' girlfriends gallery

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

PosDriverTeamTimeLaps
01Nico RosbergMercedes1:10.40136
02Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:10.70928
03Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1:11.02822
04Valtteri BottasWilliams1:11.45226
05Felipe NasrSauber1:11.63328
06Daniil KvyatRed Bull1:11.64231
07Daniel RicciardoRed Bull1:11.72429
08Max VerstappenToro Rosso1:11.82538
09Felipe MassaWilliams1:11.89029
10Sergio PerezForce India1:11.90537
11Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:11.94832
12Pastor MaldonadoLotus1:12.00434
13Nico HulkenbergForce India1:12.03136
14Jolyon PalmerLotus1:12.05027
15Marcus EricssonSauber1:12.15930
16Jenson ButtonMcLaren1:12.92030
17Fernando AlonsoMcLaren1:13.27210
18Will StevensManor1:13.93729
19Roberto MerhiManor1:15.45911
20Sebastian VettelFerrari1:15.6844