Brazil – Free Practice 1: Nico Rosberg rides high at Interlagos

The rain was forecasted and it didn’t miss the appointment. Weather conditions won’t allow teams to test the 2014 tires brought by Pirelli for this first practice session. The air temperature is 25 degrees. Note that Daniil Kvyat replaces Daniel Ricciardo this morning, Rodolfo Gonzalez is in Chilton’s seat, and James Calado is driving instead of Paul di Resta.

Jules Bianchi is the first to take to the track with wet condition tires. Gonzalez does the same and already makes a small error in turn 4. Mark Webber has opted for intermediates like Gutiérrez, Bottas, and Maldonado. At Red Bull, they are taking advantage of this first session of the weekend to take numerous measurements at the front and rear wheels of the RB9.

After the first quarter-hour, Jenson Button starts his first timed lap: 1:26.184 for the McLaren driver. Nico Rosberg does better with a 1:25.747. Sergio Pérez takes the third position, but the Mexican missed his lap as he is more than 7 seconds behind the Mercedes.

The conditions remain tricky, leading to some maneuvers. Lewis Hamilton finds himself sideways in turn number 3. Now, only Gonzalez is on full wet tires. While the first 15 minutes mainly consisted of an observation lap, the on-track activity is intensifying.

Remaining 1 hour of practice and Rosberg is still the fastest with 1:24.781. The German is ahead of his teammate and Jenson Button. Sergio Pérez, Hülkenberg, Massa, Kvyat, Gutiérrez, Vergne, and Alonso complete the provisional Top 10.

A little before the halfway point of the session, Sebastian Vettel returns to the track equipped with medium dry-weather tires. After one lap, the world champion goes back to his garage but heads out again immediately. Vettel has not yet set a timed lap. The same goes for Webber and Calado. At this stage, the Top 10 is as follows: Rosberg, Hamilton, Button, Alonso, Pérez, Kvyat, Kovalainen, Hülkenberg, Massa, and Gutiérrez.

While there are 30 minutes remaining, the top three positions remain unchanged, but the track is wetter than at the beginning of the session. Therefore, we won’t see slick tires this morning.

The work continues for the various players on the track and Webber and Vettel make their way into the top 10, which, with 10 minutes left before the checkered flag, is still led by Nico Rosberg ahead of Hamilton, Button, Alonso, Vettel, Webber, Pérez, Kvyat, Kovalainen, and Hülkenberg.

At the end of the session, we push a little more, and inevitably the risk of making a mistake is greater. We thus see exits for the following drivers: Grosjean, Maldonado, Gutiérrez, and Sebastian Vettel. These exits have no consequences except for an aborted flying lap for these drivers.

Free practice 1 ends with Nico Rosberg setting the fastest time at 1:24.781. Hamilton and Vettel complete the podium this morning. The top 10 is rounded out by Button, Alonso, Webber, Pérez, Kvyat, Kovalainen, and Hülkenberg.

Note that the young Russian, Kvyat, finished five-tenths ahead of Vergne in his second free practice session in F1 after the one held last week in Austin.

Results of Free Practice 1 of the Brazilian Grand Prix – Friday, November 22, 2013: