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Red Bull's Ricciardo sets the pace in Hockenheim's FP1 session

Daniel Ricciardo clocked in with the fastest lap in Friday's first free practice session for this weekend's German Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver led the field with a 1m13.525s lap achieved on Pirelli's ultra-soft compound, edging Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton by a small 0.004s margin and team mate Max Verstappen by 0.189s.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel concluded the morning P4, 0.271s adrift, while Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen rounded off the top six.

German Grand Prix - Free Practice 1

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:13.525s		22
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:13.529s	+ 0.004s	29
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:13.714s	+ 0.189s	34
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:13.796s	+ 0.271s	23
5	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:13.903s	+ 0.378s	30
6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:14.267s	+ 0.742s	24
7	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:14.691s	+ 1.166s	29
8	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:14.853s	+ 1.328s	28
9	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	1:15.097s	+ 1.572s	25
10	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:15.282s	+ 1.757s	32
11	Sergio Pérez	Force India	1:15.415s	+ 1.890s	29
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:15.544s	+ 2.019s	13
13	Lance Stroll	Williams	1:15.629s	+ 2.104s	32
14	Carlos Sainz	Renault	1:15.769s	+ 2.244s	10
15	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	1:15.864s	+ 2.339s	36
16	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	1:15.876s	+ 2.351s	34
17	Nicholas Latifi	Force India	1:16.023s	+ 2.498s	27
18	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	1:16.071s	+ 2.546s	32
19	Antonio Giovinazzi	Sauber	1:16.136s	+ 2.611s	23
20	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:16.149s	+ 2.624s	14

The German Grand Prix's first free practice session kicked off with Antonio Giovinazzi in for Marcus Ericsson at Sauber, and Nicholas Latifi running in place of Esteban Ocon at Force India.

Needless to say, both men were among the first to venture out on to the track.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, running on Pirelli's medium rubber, was the first driver to get down to business, the Dutchman putting a preliminary fastest time of 1m15.055s on the board.

An ultra-soft shod Daniel Ricciardo edged out his team mate after 30 minutes however, with Vettel, Bottas and Hamilton following suit.

The reigning world champion overhauled the group to go fastest with a 1m13.529s on soft tyres.

On the bubble Ricciardo expecting engine penalty

Meanwhile, McLaren's drivers lingered at the tail end of the field, running only a minimum number of laps for some reason.

With 20 minutes to go, Ricciardo positioned himself second, just 0.170s behind pacesetter Hamilton, but in front of Verstappen, Vettel, Bottas and Raikkonen.

The Aussie kept his head down however, taking advantage of his ultra-soft tyres to snatch the top spot from Hamilton by 0.004s.

Both Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso finally put flying laps on the board in the closing stages of the session, the Spaniard keeping up his good habit of knowking other drivers on the radio, calling Renault's Nico Hulkenberg an "amateur" after running behind the German in Hockenheim's stadium section.

The session concluded with a Red Bull at the top of the timesheet, with Ricciardo setting the pace from Hamilton and Verstappen.

With Grosjean, Magnussen and Leclerc following the top six, one will note that five Ferrari-powered cars figured among the top ten in FP1, confirming the Italian engine's strength.

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Michael Delaney