Rosberg and Hamilton take one session each in Sochi - Bird strikes, home drivers, McLaren pace and more
Published by Christine
The first car out on track at the brand new Sochi Autodrom was Fernando Alonso, whilst the first car to set a lap time was Nico Rosberg. Mercedes dominated Friday in Russia, as usual, but they were closely followed by the McLaren boys. Jenson Button led the way for much of FP1, before dropping back. He also managed to become the first spinner at the brand new track.
Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin climbed into the Sauber and joined Daniil Kvyat in the Toro Rosso representing Russia at their home event. Kevin Magnussen had some issues, reporting over the radio that he thought he’d hit a bird. Lewis Hamilton struggled with a brake issue, but it was Rosberg, Hamilton and Button as the fastest three.
Into the afternoon, and Button was again the early pacesetter, until Hamilton and Rosberg joined the fun of course. Daniel Ricciardo suffered a power unit failure that brought his Red Bull to a halt out on track, and saw the session red flagged with less than ten minutes remaining. Hamilton, Magnussen and Alonso were the fastest three at the end of the day.
