Spa FP1: Rosberg on top as holidays come to an end

Emerging from the month long summer break, Nico Rosberg clearly has the bit between his teeth as he set the fastest lap time during the first free practice session of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, ahead of his Mercedes teammate and title rival Lewis Hamilton by well over half a second.

Rosberg's best lap time of 1:48.348 was 0.730 of a second up on Hamilton, with Kimi Raikkonen third quickest only 0.069 of a second adrift of the world champion's best lap time, suggesting that Ferrari may have a handy car around Spa-Francorchamps where the Finn last won for the Italian team back in 2009.

His teammate Sebastian Vettel was fifth fastest, bettered by Sergio Perez who was fourth quickest in the Force India.

Next up were the Red Bull duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, sixth and seventh respectively, setting their times in a flurry of laps at the very end of the ninety minutes session.

Nico Hulkenberg was eighth in the other Force India, ahead of Williams' Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Gutierrez in the Haas.

Esteban Ocon made his debut for Manor, ending the session 16th on the timing screens, ahead of teammate Pascal Wehrlein who was 19th.

The Halo was tested during the session, attached to the cars of Rosberg, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz.

McLaren driver Fernando Alonso was unable to post a competitive time following a water leak.

Report in progress...