Rosberg sets pace as engine issues halt Ricciardo

Mercedes outlined their pace advantage ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix as Nico Rosberg edged Lewis Hamilton to the fastest time in Friday practice.

The Silver Arrows drivers traded times in both 90 minute sessions with Rosberg setting the quickest time of the day to top Practice 1.

Rosberg’s 1:26.828s effort came in a session where he received an official reprimand for a pitlane infringement.

Although Hamilton topped the second session, the reigning world champion was unable to eclipse his team-mate’s P1 time, falling just 0.030s shy of the German.

The pair proved to be in a class of their own with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen the best of the rest in third and fourth overall.

Vettel was almost half a second adrift of Rosberg’s session best.

It proved to be another difficult day for Daniel Ricciardo with the Australian limited to only 13 laps due to engine issues.

The Red Bull Racing driver was forced to sit out the majority of the second session after his RB11 underwent an engine change.

Ricciardo will not incur a grid drop penalty as his team elected to run a repaired Renault engine from China in Practice 1, which was then replaced by the fourth and final power unit of the driver’s season allocation.

With the FIA set to reject a proposal to allow teams to use five engines per season before receiving a penalty, Red Bull boss Christian Horner expects Ricciardo will receive 10 place grid drop this year.

“I hope we can get through this weekend and Monaco as that is last place you want to take a penalty in Monaco,” said Horner.

“This is the fourth engine in five races, it is not going to be too long (before we get a penalty).”

Ricciardo’s troubles aside, team-mate Daniil Kvyat was fifth fastest showing encouraging signs for the Milton Keynes squad, while Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen was sixth quickest.

McLaren ended the day on relative high note with Jenson Button seventh fastest in second practice with team-mate Fernando Alonso just outside the top 10 in 11th position.

Practice was devoid of many incidents although there just one stoppage in Practice 2 when bodywork from Romain Grosjean’s Lotus came loose from the rear of his car on the start/finish straight.

The opening practice saw Williams, Lotus and Sauber deploy test drivers with Susie Wolff, Jolyon Palmer and Raffaele Marciello all cutting laps.

GP2 star Marciello emerged quickest of the trio as he pipped Palmer to 12th, while Wolff was 2.8s slower than Rosberg in 14th position.

Result: Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix Free Practice 2

Position	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:26.852s	–	26
2	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:27.260s	+0.408s	37
3	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:27.616s	+0.764s	35
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:27.780s	+0.928s	36
5	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull/Renault	1:27.943s	+1.091s	25
6	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso/Renault	1:28.017s	+1.165s	32
7	Jenson Button	McLaren/Honda	1:28.494s	+1.642s	31
8	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1:28.525s	+1.673s	39
9	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso/Renault	1:28.674s	+1.822s	31
10	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1:28.712s	+1.860s	36
11	Fernando Alonso	McLaren/Honda	1:28.723s	+1.871s	28
12	Romain Grosjean	Lotus/Mercedes	1:29.086s	+2.234s	14
13	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1:29.098s	+2.246s	4
14	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Mercedes	1:29.217s	+2.365s	34
15	Felipe Nasr	Sauber/Ferrari	1:29.333s	+2.481s	37
16	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	1:29.361s	+2.509s	34
17	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	1:29.601s	+2.749s	38
18	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1:29.707s	+2.855s	35
19	Will Stevens	Marussia/Ferrari	1:31.929s	+5.077s	30
20	Roberto Merhi	Marussia/Ferrari	1m32.751s	+5.899s	23

Result: Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix Free Practice 1

Position	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:26.828s	–	28
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:26.898s	0.070s	27
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:27.806s	+0.978s	21
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:27.832s	+1.004s	16
5	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso/Renault	1:28.132s	+1.304s	27
6	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso/Renault	1:28.529s	+1.701s	23
7	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull/Renault	1:28.785s	+1.957s	7
8	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1:28.831s	+2.003s	21
9	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1:29.075s	+2.247s	9
10	Felipe Nasr	Sauber/Ferrari	1:29.140s	+2.312s	14
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	1:29.409s	+2.581s	20
12	Raffaele Marciello	Sauber/Ferrari	1:29.630s	+2.802s	15
13	Jolyon Palmer	Lotus/Mercedes	1:29.676s	+2.848s	21
14	Susie Wolff	Williams/Mercedes	1:29.708s	+2.880s	22
15	Fernando Alonso	McLaren/Honda	1:29.813s	+2.985s	22
16	Jenson Button	McLaren/Honda	1:29.817s	+2.989s	22
17	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1:30.096s	+3.268s	19
18	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Mercedes	1:30.110s	+3.282s	7
19	Will Stevens	Marussia/Ferrari	1:32.471s	+5.643s	22
20	Roberto Merhi	Marussia/Ferrari	1:32.647s	+5.819s	20