F1: Mercs lead in German GP practice

Lewis Hamilton pipped Formula 1 title rival Nico Rosberg to the fastest time on the opening day of practice for the German Grand Prix.

Rosberg had been the faster of the Mercedes pair early in the session while on the slower soft-compound Pirellis, outpacing Hamilton by just over three tenths of a second.

But the world championship leader made a mistake at Turn 2 on his first flying lap on super-soft rubber, meaning he was unable to improve his time until his next lap.

Hamilton then put in a 1m18.341s on his first flier, setting the fastest time in the middle sector, with Rosberg ending up 24 thousandths of a second slower.

Mercedes later had a problem in the pits when Hamilton came in unexpectedly and the team had Rosberg's tyres ready, meaning that it took time to get his correct tyres.

With Hamilton sat in the pits, Rosberg came in and had to queue to wait for the team to put on the correct tyres amid concerns about his brakes overheating.

Daniel Ricciardo was third fastest for Red Bull, just a tenth off the pace, with Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen a strong fourth, half a second down.

Kevin Magnussen continued his recent run of impressive form with fifth fastest, just ahead of Williams driver Felipe Massa, who was briefly second fastest in the early stages of the super-soft runs.

World champions Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso were eighth and ninth fastest, the former failing to extract as big an improvement on super-soft rubber as those at the front.

Sauber driver Adrian Sutil was 11th fastest for Sauber ahead of Daniil Kvyat, with Force India pairing failing to break the top 10 for the second grand prix Friday in a row in 13th and 14th place.

Caterham had a troubled session, with both cars stopping on the circuit.

Kamui Kobayashi parked with flames emerging from the rear of the car after completing 12 laps, while Marcus Ericsson was ordered to stop his car on track because of a drop in oil pressure after just three laps.

But the team did get Ericsson's car back and he was able to return to the track in the final half hour, allowing him to set the 20th fastest time.

With the ambient temperature at over 30C throughout the afternoon, track temperatures hit 58C, the highest so far this season.

Pos Driver                Team                   Time      Gap      Laps
 1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes               1m18.341s           38
 2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m18.365s  +0.024s  39
 3. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault       1m18.443s  +0.102s  35
 4. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari                1m18.887s  +0.546s  38
 5. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes       1m18.960s  +0.619s  40
 6. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes      1m19.024s  +0.683s  36
 7. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m19.221s  +0.880s  40
 8. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m19.248s  +0.907s  35
 9. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m19.329s  +0.988s  32
10. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes      1m19.385s  +1.044s  34
11. Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari         1m19.417s  +1.076s  41
12. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault     1m19.452s  +1.111s  27
13. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes   1m19.581s  +1.240s  28
14. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m19.593s  +1.252s  32
15. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault     1m19.760s  +1.419s  32
16. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault          1m20.158s  +1.817s  35
17. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1m20.358s  +2.017s  35
18. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari         1m20.504s  +2.163s  40
19. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari       1m21.328s  +2.987s  31
20. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault       1m21.870s  +3.529s  21
21. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari       1m21.898s  +3.557s  28
22. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault       1m23.728s  +5.387s  12