Nico Rosberg went fastest in the first practice session on Austrian soil in 11 years on Friday morning, although Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso both came within four-tenths of a second of demoting the German.
In cool, overcast but dry conditions, the fastest time initially see-sawed between the Mercedes drivers as Rosberg lapped in 1m 15.162s to Hamilton’s 1m 15.700s, then Hamilton improved to 1m 13.261s to Rosberg’s 1m 13.508s, and then improved further to 1m 12.255s.
On the second runs, however, Rosberg managed 1m 11.295s to take fastest time away from Jenson Button, who’d lapped his upgraded McLaren in 1m 11.839s. It was at this point, 40 minutes into the session, that it began to drizzle for the first time, although barely ten minutes later conditions had improved enough for drivers to start going faster again.
Hamilton moved up to second on 1m 11.435s and Alonso third in 1m 11.606s, only for the rain to briefly return once more. As conditions improved again towards the end everyone started pushing, but in general the frontrunners’ times were still a second or so off.
The full results: