Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"Fernando Alonso says he is now pain-free following his rib-breaking barrel-roll accident in the Australian Grand Prix, but that it took him longer than he expected to be so.

“'I have been working and training OK,' he said. 'In the last two weeks probably after China another four or five days with some strange feeling, but for the last 10 days it was perfectly OK. It took a little bit longer than what I thought or what I anticipated, it was around 42/43 days from Melbourne to 100%, but that is probably normal.

"As for McLaren-Honda’s potential form at Sochi, they are expecting a difficult weekend on this engine track. 'We are definitely more competitive race after race,'” Alonso said, 'but here is a good test for us: the power effect is quite high here. I think it is the fourth-highest of the championship, so we will need to recover in the corners big time'."

We're keeping an eye on Jenson Button in the closing stages. On the yellow-rimmed soft tyres.

He can't do anything quicker than 11th and he's a tenth of a second quicker than McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Two minutes of FP1 remaining. Don't expect any drama...

Or should we?!

No. Seriously. Don't.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"Sauber’s Felipe Nasr has had a difficult start to the season, generally out-paced by team-mate Marcus Ericsson - when the Brazilian had an edge on the Swede for much of last year - and unhappy with the feel of the car. In an attempt to get to the bottom of the problems, Sauber have given Nasr a new chassis for this weekend. "I can confirm I do get a new chassis here, although you have to remember an F1 car is made of many components and it is just one part of it," Nasr said. "It is a sensible step from the team, since we have been looking further at the issues I am having, the handling issues I have had. Since we put the car on the track in Australia, we had this strange behaviour, it was very unpredictable, so we have a new one here and we see how it goes.” 

Felipe Nasr has been on the radio complaining about a loss of power. The Sauber man is in P12, with team-mate Marcus Ericsson down in P19.

But it seems like a good time to get some expert opinion on Nasr...

"How's Daniil Kvyat doing on his home track?" I hear you shout!

Your timing is perfect - as Mark Gallagher, on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, is talking about how he reckons the Russian is a sitting duck and will be replaced by Max Verstappen at the earliest opportunity.

Well, Kvyat is down in P8, a second off team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Will he be dropped? It's got a few of you talking.

Image source, Getty Images

Now it's a party.

It's a Kimi party.

Raikkonen has casually climbed up into P3, replacing Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel. He's 1.2 seconds off Nico Rosberg's leading time.

Image source, Getty Images

While we're talking about what the aeroscreen looks like, I think somebody mentioned it, but it has a bit of the Sir Jackie Stewart 1973 Tyrell to it.

He won the title that year - and it was his last season in F1.

Was it all down to the raised screen at the top of his nose?

Maybe?

Ok, no.

Image source, Getty Images

Daniel Ricciardo has a go on the supers. He says Red Bull should be aiming for top five this weekend. He's in P3 in first practice - but 1.5 seconds off Nico Rosberg's best time.

Actually, scratch that. Sebastian Vettel has come to the party and usurped the Australian in third - and that's on the softs. Tasty.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"The pressure is on for Lewis Hamilton this weekend. He admitted on Thursday that there is an 'urgency' to his need to start clawing back points on team-mate Nico Rosberg - and he says he needs to start this weekend.

“'I am 36 points behind and I can’t really afford to fall any further back,' he said.

"Realistically, the main things he needs to take care of are taking pole and making a good start, because if he is leading by the first corner, a large part of the job is done, reliability permitting.

"This is the largest deficit he has ever faced against Rosberg - although cumulatively he closed a much bigger margin in 2014, in three separate goes. How he handles it will likely be the over-arching narrative of the season from now on."

And now the quick runs are a happening.

Both of the Mercedes are on the super softs and Lewis Hamilton is 0.7 seconds slower than Nico Rosberg.

There doesn't seem to be an immediate explanation for that - other than that Rosberg has just clicked into gear quicker.

Plenty of purple on Nico Rosberg's most recent lap, as he goes quickest in sector two and three.

Felipe Massa has not been out on track this morning, with his Williams team having a few issues with the car.

He's due out imminently, though.

He'll be frustrated, as his team-mate Valtteri Bottas is up in P3.

Image source, Getty Images

On the subject of Red Bull making most things look cool. They've gone all Cool Runnings on us.

Here's their version of a bobsled.

It's so awesome you could lick it.

"Are you dead man?"

"Yeah - dead cool."

We've had our procedural low at this point in FP1, so let's look at the standings.

Nico Rosberg leads with a 1:39.097 - he's completed the most laps at 16.

And then it's Hamilton, Bottas Ricciardo, Kvyat.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"Daniel Ricciardo said on Thursday that it was “definitely not unlikely now” that Red Bull would stick with Renault as its engine supplier next season following the company’s upturn in form this season. In fact, this is effectively a statement of the obvious. Mercedes will definitely not supply them and Ferrari probably would not.

"McLaren chief Ron Dennis has a veto over a second Honda supply and has told F1 Racing magazine this month: “Let’s get to the point where we’ve won the world championship first and then we’ll think about it.”

"And Renault’s contract with F1, sources say, contains a clause which demands they supply a second team if asked - and that second team would obviously be Red Bull. In any case, after two poor years, the idea of staying with Renault is not as abhorrent to Red Bull as it was a year ago, when they tried everything they could to get rid of them.

“If we do get what we hope we see from the update (for the Canadian Grand Prix in June),” Ricciardo said, “it should put us on a Ferrari power-unit level, which is competitive enough for the team and chassis level we have.”

BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

BBC Radio 5 live's F1 analyst Mark Gallagher has just told a good story.

The team are chatting about whether engineers tell a few porkies to drivers sometimes to keep them happy.

Gallagher recalls Jean Alesi asking for a bag full of changes to to his Formula 3000 car. They said "that's all done".

Alesi took almost a second off his lap times - nothing had been changed.

The engineering placebo effect.