Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg has got his Spanish Grand Prix weekend off to a good start by topping Free Practice 1 in Barcelona.

The German held off his world champion team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, by 0.07s as they dominated the opening session of the weekend.

Ferrari pair Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were a distant third and fourth, and appear not to have made any inroads into Mercedes pace advantage so far.

The Italian team have brought major upgrades to Catalonia but Mercedes’ aerodynamic lead seems to have remained.

Toro Rosso drivers Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen were fifth and sixth, while Daniil Kvyat was the fastest Red Bull in seventh.

Felipe Massa was eighth for Williams, and finished almost 1s faster than Susie Wolff, who was making her first appearance of the season.

Wolff was the slowest of the reserve drivers in action, as Raffaele Marciello finished 12th for Sauber and Jolyon Palmer came 13th for Lotus.

The second session will take place this afternoon.


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