Baku FP1: Hamilton and Rosberg on top as Ricciardo crashes

Mercedes teammates and title favourites Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg topped the timing screens at the end of the first free practice session of the European Grand Prix weekend, at the brand new Baku Street Circuit.

Hamilton's best lap of 1:46.435 was three tenths up on the sister car in a session wherein drivers were familiarising themselves with the world's fastest street based race circuit.

Inevitably there were mistakes aplenty as drivers explored the edge and beyond, the reigning world champion got away lightly after making contact with a wall, but good fortune eluded Daniel Ricciardo.

The Red Bull Racing driver ran wide exiting Turn 15 and hit the wall on his right hand side. The contact was heavy, with the right rear wheel of his car being ripped off against the barriers. Ricciardo’s crash led to the Australian finishing in P13, more than three seconds off the pace. It also led to a 15-minute red-flag period while his car was recovered.

The session was made more difficult for Red Bull due to problems with Max Vertsappen’s car. The Ducthman completed just seven laps across the 90s as an oil leake restricted him to the garage.

Nearer the front of the order Bottas ended the session just 0.6s adrift of Hamilton. The Finn scored third place in Canada and on this new street circuit, which features the longest straight in F1, the Williams’ facility in high-speed environments was once again revealed. Bottas was the only non-works Mercedes driver within a second of the defending champion.

Fourth place in the session went to McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, a surprise result given the team’s conservative expectations for this power-sensitive circuit. Alonso finished the session with a time of 1:47.989 to sit 1.5s adrift of Hamilton.

Sebastian Vettel was fifth for Ferrari ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez, the second McLaren on Jenson Button and Williams Felipe Massa rounded out the top eight. Ninth place went to Carlos Sainz, who also made slight contact with the barriers at Turn 15, with Nico Hulkenberg 10th for Force India.