Nico Rosberg set the fastest time of the opening practice session for the British Grand Prix, despite missing most of the session due to hydraulic problems.

The German stopped on track just 18 minutes into the session. He pulled over on the inside of the Becketts complex after being asked by his Mercedes team to stop the car. The car was recovered and Rosberg spent the bulk of the session in the garage. He reappeared six minutes before the end of running, and managed to outpace team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just seven hundredths of a second with a lap of 1:34.274. Rosberg only managed 11 laps in the session.

Up to that point, late in the session, Hamilton had dominated the session. After recovering from an early spin, the Briton went quickest with a lap of 1:35.536, and at the half hour mark led the field with a lap of 1:34.815. That was just under a second clear of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, with Rosberg third and Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo fourth.

Hamilton eventually improved to a best lap of 1:34.344, which stood as the morning’s best until Rosberg reappeared, having undergone a gearbox change, and jumped to the top of the list.

Behind them, Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen was third quickest, albeit over a second behind Rosberg. Kimi Raikkonen was fourth, though the Ferrari driver’s session wasn’t without issue.

An hour into the session Raikkonen was told to make his way back to the garage as there was an MGU-H problem. He would reappear however and ended the session with a best time of 1:35.588.

Raikkonen was followed by the second Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz, while Sebastian Vettel was sixth in the second Ferrari, ahead of the two Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat.

Nico Hulkenberg in the updated Force India and Felipe Massa in the Williams completed the top ten.

Williams Susie Wolff was the fastest of the three Friday drivers on track this morning. The Scot set finished in 13^th place, with a best time of 1:37.242. That put here 2.968s down on Rosberg’s time. The Williams tester got through 19 laps, however, a better return than her appearance for the team here last when here car failed on its installation lap.

Wolff finished seven tenths of a second adrift of team-mate Felipe Massa but she was ahead of fellow testers Jolyon Palmer of Lotus and Raffaele Marciello of Sauber who were 14^th and 15^th respectively.

2015 British GP – Free Practice 1
1 N Rosberg Mercedes 1:34.274 12
2 L Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.344+0.070 26
3 M Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:35.530+1.256 18
4 K Raikkonen Ferrari 1:35.588+1.314 21
5 C Sainz Toro Rosso 1:35.669+1.395 33
6 S Vettel Ferrari 1:35.739+1.465 17
7 D Ricciardo Red Bull 1:35.818+1.544 26
8 D Kvyat Red Bull 1:35.876+1.602 22
9 N Hulkenberg Force India 1:36.157+1.883 28
10 F Massa Williams 1:36.469+2.195 23
11 F Nasr Sauber 1:36.855+2.581 20
12 S Perez Force India 1:36.889+2.615 26
13 S Wolff Williams 1:37.242+2.968 19
14 J Palmer Lotus 1:37.262+2.988 26
15 R Marciello Sauber 1:37.372+3.098 17
16 P Maldonado Lotus 1:38.080+3.806 8
17 F Alonso McLaren 1:38.222+3.948 12
18 J Button McLaren 1:38.860+4.586 10
19 W Stevens Manor 1:38.981+4.707 23
20 R Merhi Manor 1:40.477+6.203 23

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