Spa, FP1: Rosberg on top, Maldonado crashes

Nico Rosberg went quickest at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps circuit as Formula One action got underway once again following the championships traditional summer break.

Rosberg made a slow start to the weekend, heading out for just three untimed laps during the opening 30-minute phase when drivers have access to an extra set of prime tyres.

He only set his first timed lap an hour into the session but with that lap he jumped straight into P1 with a time of 1:51.200.

In his absence, proceedings were largely controlled by his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton slotted into top spot early with a time of 1:52.192, more than a second clear of the rest of the field. The champion then lowered the benchmark further, climbing to a best time of 1:51.340, which kep the gap to his rivals at over a second as the opening half-hour elapsed.

Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkonen was closest to the Briton during the opening hour of the session, with the Finn lapping to within a tenth of a second of the Mercedes man.

However, the action was halted 50 minutes into the session when Pastor Maldonado lost control of his Lotus on the exit of Malmedy, hitting the barriers and damaging his car.

On the resumption Rosberg finally emerged to set a time and eventually eclipsed Hamilton by 0.242 seconds.

The gap to their rivals was narrowing, however, and by the end of the session, Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo kept the Mercedes pair honest by getting to within three tenths of Rosberg’s best time.

Räikkönen claimed the morning’s fourth fastest time, less than four tenths adrift of P1, while his teammate Sebastian Vettel was fifth, though the German was some eight tenths down on Rosberg’s session-best time. Daniil Kvyat, fresh from a career-best result of second place in Hungary, made a solid start to the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, taking sixth place.

He was the last driver to get within a second of Rosberg’s time, with Verstappen seventh and 1.07s down on the Mercedes man and team-mate Carlos Sainz eighth, a further three tenths back.

Sergio Perez in the Force India and Valtteri Bottas in the Williams completed the top 10.