Rosberg two tenths quicker than title leader Hamilton; Host of drivers fall foul of low-grip track with Juncadella crashing Force India
Tuesday 25 November 2014 17:53, UK
Nico Rosberg struck first in the battle of the Mercedes title rivals in Practice One for the Brazilian GP by outpacing Lewis Hamilton by two-tenths of a second.
In an opening session to the season’s penultimate weekend overshadowed by the breaking news that debt-laden Marussia had folded, the teams and drivers still on the grid at Interlagos got to grips – both literally and metaphorically – with the 4.3km circuit’s completely new track surface.
With laptimes sharply tumbling from the start of the session as grip levels steadily improved, championship leader Hamilton initially led the way before team-mate Rosberg turned the tables on the second of the medium tyre runs. The German, without a race victory since July and 24 points adrift in the title race, clocked a best time of 1:12.764 to outpace the sister W05 by 0.221 seconds.
Although the session was dry throughout – which may not be the case later in the weekend in the ever-unpredictable Sao Paulo – the low-grip nature of the brand new surface continuously caught drivers out during the course of the 90 minutes of running.
Force India’s Friday driver Daniel Juncadella, standing in for Sergio Perez in P1, had already spun at Turn Seven before crashing at the same point of the circuit a little later on, the Spaniard going in nose-first into the tyre barriers after his VJM07 became unsettled over the rumble strips on the outside kerb.
Juncadella wasn't alone in running off the road, however, as Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen twice spun and Toro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen had a half-spin himself at Turn 13. The other Ferrari of Fernando Alonso also had an off-course moment into the grass.
At least those drivers had the benefit of completing some serious running – McLaren’s Jenson Button, at the centre of fevered speculation over his F1 future this weekend, completed a solitary installation lap after his MP4-29 was struck down with an ERS failure which briefly left him stranded in the pitlane entry. Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez was sidelined by a similar problem.
Mercedes’ latest practice one-two certainly proved the most familiar aspect of the session, as Daniil Kvyat finished a promising third for Toro Rosso.
However, the gap between pacesetter Rosberg and the young Russian was one second alone, with Ferrari’s Alonso and the lead Williams of Felipe Massa even further back in fourth and fifth.
Teenage rising star Verstappen, despite several wild moments on his Interlagos debut, posted his best P1 result yet of sixth with Pastor Maldonado, fresh from his first points for Lotus in Austin, also running strongly to end up seventh for Lotus.
Raikkonen, who finished the session by spinning onto the grass at the tricky final turn, was eighth with the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel only tenth and 14th respectively.
