Hulkenberg tops first practice of Russian GP

The German was followed by the second Force India of Sergio Perez and then Daniel Ricciardo in his Red Bull, the Australian the only other driver to finish within a second of Hulkenberg.

Toro Rosso driver Max Verstappen, who was told he couldn’t do a flying lap towards the end of the session because the team needed to save tyres as a precaution for Sunday’s race, was fourth.

What was described by the FIA as “a significant diesel spillage” on track shortly prior to the start of FP1 resulted in a 30-minute delay. On his exploratory lap Vettel summarised the situation perfectly over the radio: “What a mess!”

“It is really slippy”, agreed Sauber’s Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson. He soon trimmed that to 1m 53.854s, however, but it was clear that the track was still so slippery that this would not be a fast session due to the unusual circumstances. It was slow going.

Spots of rain didn’t help either, of course.

Despite them, Jenson Button improved from a third fastest (of three) 1m 55.781s to go fastest on 1m 50.920s on the soft tyres, making it a McLaren one-two.

“It has not been the most adventurous day in the auto”, Hulkenberg said. He stayed there only moments, as Alonso posted 1m 49.240s. In free practice the heavy rain is making things hard for the drivers, but apart from that there are more news coming from the venue.

Neither Lewis Hamilton nor Nico Rosberg risked their Mercedes in flying laps the hard conditions, choosing instead to dive into the pit line for practice starts.

“From my point of view, there is not much to learn from today”, the Briton, who holds a 48-point lead over team-mate Nico Rosberg with five races remaining, said. Hamilton, who spun at turn 17 in the closing stages, was seventh fastest.

Few cars ventured out until the final 20 minutes when successive laps on slick tyres began to improve the conditions, but the final order was not representative.