Lewis Hamilton is caught daydreaming as he gets in the way of Daniil Kvyat, who has to throw on the brakes and send sparks everywhere.

Image source, Getty Images

Sebastian Vettel has a whirl at his first quickie of the session and it's decent.

He goes 1:37.007 - with a stunning middle sector - that puts him in P3 and half a second off Nico Rosberg.

Nico Rosberg is the first man to dip below 1:37 this weekend as he notches 1:36.783. That's 0.4 quicker than last year's pole.

Lewis Hamilton looks good in the first two sectors but gets it all wrong in the third sector and can only close to within 0.17 seconds on his team-mate.

Image source, Getty Images

A near miss as Sebastian Vettel's team send him out from a pit-stop. The German has the reflexes and vision to spot Lewis Hamilton coming down the pit-lane and puts on the brakes.

Image source, Getty Images

May I chuck Foreigner's Cold As Ice into the hat?

Right. So after a spell of tranquility on the track, a few are heading out for the final 15 minutes.

It's a little earlier than usual for final runs, but the lack of tyre degradation means they can go a bit longer.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

“The new US-based Haas team came down to earth with a bump at the last race in China after an impressive start to the season that saw Romain Grosjean take sixth and fifth places in Australia and Bahrain. And their troubles continued in Russia on Friday, with Grosjean and team-mate Esteban Gutierrez 16th and 17th fastest. 

“There is a theory that Haas were flattered in the first two races by a) getting lucky with the safety car in Melbourne; and b) going for an aggressive tyre strategy in Bahrain that turned out to be perfect for the race on that day. And it is true that they have not qualified close to either of those finishing positions. 

“However, Grosjean believes the problem lies in the more mundane - tyre temperatures. This is something all teams struggle with from time to time with these notoriously heat-sensitive Pirellis. ‘We are struggling a little bit with a few issues that we may have started to have in China – getting the tyres to work properly. And that is the only big difference that we can see from the first two races. Since Friday in China I have not been happy with my car. We need to understand what could possibly have gone wrong and hopefully change it’.

“Haas’s modus operandi is to buy as many parts as they can from Ferrari - which means suspension, gearbox, engine; essentially everything but the monocoque and aerodynamic surfaces. So it’s perhaps not surprising that the team has similar problems generating tyre temperatures to, yes, Ferrari.”

Let's take a look at the Haas drivers, as Andrew Benson has some interesting analysis on their start to the season.

Romain Grosjean is down in P20, with Esteban Gutierrez in P16.

Both the McLarens are on the board now then - Fenando Alonso P10 and Jenson Button P11.

Sebastian Vettel has the day's slowest time, his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen is in P3.

Image source, Getty Images

I suggested that Sergio Perez's Force India had the turning circle of a steamroller.

I'd like to apologise if any steamrollers found the comments offensive.

Not one to like missing out on a party - Lewis Hamilton gets in on the action at Turn 13.

He has massive lock up and amid a plume of smoke and enters the dirt. There will be some nasty dead spots on those super softs now.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

“Jenson Button came up with an interesting perspective on the cockpit head protection debate after practice on Friday. The FIA has been pretty clear that F1 is heading towards using some kind of device next year and the choice at the moment is between the ‘halo’ tested by Ferrari over the winter - and which was the strong front-runner until very recently - and the new Red Bull ‘aeroscreen’ run by Daniel Ricciardo on Friday.

"Red Bull are pushing their design quite heavily, saying they believe it is more attractive and elegant. But Button pointed out that it would affect the car’s aerodynamics much more extensively than the halo, adding: ‘That is going to be tricky for a lot of teams to get used to whereas I’m sure Red Bull have tested it a lot recently.’ The clear implication being that adopting the aeroscreen might give Red Bull an advantage ahead of 2017.”

Nip and tick between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

Now Nico is top dog, with a 1:37.224 - a tenth quicker than his Mercedes team-mate.

The McLarens are the only cars yet to register times in this session. Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button both came back into the garage after initial laps.

Image source, Reuters

The Mercedes have landed.

Nico Rosberg goes quickest in the session (1:37.722), only for Lewis Hamilton to knock off his team-mate with the quickest time of the weekend - 1:37.325.

Kimi Raikkonen has been doing this F1 lark since 2001. One world title, 81 podiums, 20 race wins - but his last was in 2013.

He's in P3 in this session.

Tom Clarkson
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

"Do I think Kimi still has it? I think he does when he wants it. He's been around a long time and he's been going around in circles for a long time. He's got more money than he knows what to do with so motivation is the key."