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Russian GP P1: Nico Rosberg quickest again from Lewis Hamilton

Rosberg laps 0.7s quicker than Hamilton as Mercedes take early control in Sochi; Ricciardo completes lap with Red Bull's 'aeroscreen'

Championship leader Nico Rosberg remained the man to beat at Mercedes in Practice One at the Russian GP as he set a commanding pace from team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

In an opening session at the Sochi Autodrom totally dominated by F1's world champions, Red Bull still claimed most attention by debuting their answer to the sport's search for improved cockpit protection for drivers.

Daniel Ricciardo completed an installation lap with the team's 'aeroscreen' concept attached to the front of his RB12. The windscreen-like device successfully held up in static tests away from the circuit last week, when an F1 wheel was fired at it at 225kph.

After Ferrari trialed a 'halo' design in winter testing, Red Bull's idea has split opinion, amid the FIA's search for a workable solution to be incorporated into the design of the all-new 2017 cars.

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Daniel Ricciardo completes a single installation lap with Red Bull's new 'aeroscreen' canopy

On the timesheet in Sochi, Mercedes immediately appeared at their best at the former Winter Olympics venue and ended P1 one second ahead of Ferrari.

Their advantage was flattered by the fact Rosberg and Hamilton set their best laps on the quickest tyres available, the supersofts, whereas the Ferrari pair did not. However, Rosberg's 1:38.127 time was still an eye-catching early effort when compared to Hamilton's.

The world champion, aiming to get his title defence properly up and running after a string of problematic races at the start of 2016, could not match Rosberg's speed on the supersofts and wound up 0.7s adrift. He was also one of a number of drivers to spin with the track offering up little grip so far.

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Sky F1 schedule: When is the Russian GP?

Sebastian Vettel recovered from two lurid spins to take third place ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, as both Ferraris stuck with the slower soft tyres. With the SF16-H's engine believed to have been upgraded for this race, the under-pressure Scuderia did run into some early reliability problems - albeit of the mechanical kind via a DRS fault on Raikkonen's car.

Williams' Felipe Massa was sidelined by a clutch fault in the early stages of the session, but steadily worked his way up the order on his return and ended a promising fifth.

Once the canopy had been taken off his car, Daniel Ricciardo showed flashes of speed to take sixth, ahead of the second Williams of Valtteri Bottas and other Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat.

Kvayt, aiming to build on the second podium finish of his career at the last race in China, lost the back end of his RB12 rounding Turn 17 but, despite spinning 180 degrees, was able to continue without damaging his car.

The Russian was joined in the P1 field by countryman Sergey Sirotkin, who returned to an F1 car for the first time in two years after signing with Renault as a test driver earlier this week.

The 20-year-old, whose one previous practice outing at the top level came with Sauber at the inaugural Sochi race in 2014, performed well on his debut in the RS16, finishing 13th - five places and 0.7s ahead of Renault regular Jolyon Palmer.

McLaren's Jenson Button (11th) and Fernando Alonso (12th) again finished just outside the top 10, with both former champions also caught out by the track conditions. Button spun at Turn 15, while Alonso went straight on at Turn Two on several occasions.

Practice One timesheet

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:38.127

2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:38.849

3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:39.175

4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:39.332

5. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:39.365

6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:39.650

7. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:39.802

8. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1:40.218

9. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:40.287

10. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:40.654

11. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:40.663

12. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:40.771

13. Sergey Sirotkin, Renault, 1:40.898

14. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:41.085

15. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1:41.134

16. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:41.238

17. Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:41.385

18. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:41.671

19. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:41.962

20. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1:42.483

21. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:42.687

22. Alfonso Celis, Force India, 1:43.432

Watch the whole Russian GP weekend - LIVE ONLY on Sky Sports F1. The race begins at 1pm on Sunday, with build-up from 11.30am. Or watch the race without a contract for £6.99 on NOW TV. 

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