Mercedes deliver another one-two as 17-year-old Verstappen makes F1 history - but also suffers a late engine failure
Friday 17 October 2014 17:37, UK
Nico Rosberg was fastest in first practice for the Japanese GP on Friday morning as Max Verstappen made history as F1's youngest driver.
Rosberg, who is looking to bounce back this weekend after Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton regained the World Championship lead in Singapore, ended the session 0.151s faster than the Briton.
Business as usual at the front of the field, then, but history was being made further back with Max Verstappen becoming the youngest ever driver to take to the track at a grand prix meeting.
The Dutch youngster, who only turned 17 at the start of the week, was standing in for Jean-Eric Vergne, who he replaces at Toro Rosso next season.
Verstappen appeared set to make a low-key debut and wound up 12th fastest overall. However, with less than six minutes to go, he pulled off the track with smoke trailling from the back of his car.
His radio comments suggested an engine failure. Even so, Verstappen was all smiles as the the chequered flag fell and his team, not to mention Red Bull, will surely take satisfaction from the fact their latest find was only about 0.4s slower than team-mate Daniil Kvyat, who was tenth.
With a Silver Arrow topping a session for the 99th time this season, next up came Fernando Alonso, who was about half a second off Rosberg's pace.
The Spaniard, whose future is under even more intense scrutiny than usual this weekend, seemed on a charm offensive in Ferrari's garage during the session, handing out grapes to his mechanics.
They were pressed into action soon after when his F14 T developed a rear brake problem, but Alonso returned to the track towards the end of the 90 minutes.
Next up was Valtteri Bottas in his Williams ahead of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari, with the top ten completed by Kevin Magnussen (McLaren), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Jenson Button (McLaren), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Kvyat.
Right at the back came Max Chilton, who was pressed into service unexpectedly after Marussia were unable to fast-track the debut of new reserve driver Will Stevens as they'd hoped.
Stevens was announced by the team just before practice started and the intention had been that the Formula Renault driver, and former Caterham test driver, would take part.
However, industrial action by couriers in Germany prevented his licence and the paperwork the FIA needed from arriving on site.
