Hockenheim, FP1: Ricciardo quickest ahead of Hamilton

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo edged Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to take top spot in the opening practice session for this weekend’s German Grand Prix.

The Australian took top spot by just four thousandths of a second from the defending champion, though having made a number of power unit changes, the Red Bull driver is set to take a number of grid penalties for Sunday’s race. Ricciardo used a third MGU-K, a third Energy Store and a third set of Control Electronics, which means he will have to start the race from the back of the grid.

There have been no changes thus far for the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the Ducthman ended the session in third place ahead of Sebastian Vettel. The championship-leading Ferrari driver finished just under three tenths of a second off the pace of Ricciado, even though the German set his best time on soft tyres.

Valtteri Bottas, who on Friday morning was confirmed for another season at Mercedes, took fifth place in the session, while Kimi Räikkonen rounded out the top six in the second Ferrari.

Best of the rest in the session were Haas, with Romain Grosjean slotting into seventh place, just over a second behind Ricciardo and 0.612 ahead of eighth-placed team-mate Kevin Magnussen. Ninth place went to Sauber’s Charles Leclerc who set a best time of 1:15.097 to finish 1.572 off the pace.

The top ten order was completed by Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg who was running a revised front wing. The German had an off-track excursion at Turn 12 during the session but his car emerged from the incident without damage despite a long and bumpy trip to rejoin the circuit.

Williams, too, were running a new front wing, designed to improve stability on a car that has been plagued with handling issues.