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 The Mercedes driver lapped the Sochi circuit, which snakes past
some of the landmark venues used at this year's Winter Olympics, in
a best time of one minute 42.311 seconds on a bright morning in the
Black Sea resort.
The German's championship leading team mate Lewis Hamilton, who has
built up a 10 point advantage after winning the last three races,
was second fastest in 1:42.376 as Mercedes continued to dominate.
The team are expected to wrap up the constructors' championship with
three races to spare on Sunday, having won 12 of the 15 so far with
eight one-two finishes.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was the first driver out of the pit lane
when the green light came on, leading Force India's Nico Hulkenberg.
McLaren's Jenson Button was the early pacesetter as drivers got to
grips with a layout compared to the former Valencia street circuit
and Singapore, with the 2009 champion ending the morning as the
third fastest.
Alonso was fourth and Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen, Button's team
mate, was fifth.
The only Russian regular, Toro Rosso's 20-year-old rookie Daniil
Kvyat, was a respectable seventh.
He was joined for the first session by 19-year-old compatriot Sergey
Sirotkin, making his debut at a race weekend in the Sauber usually
driven by Mexican Esteban Gutierrez.
Williams had a disrupted
session when a problem with a tyre blanket damaged a set of Valtteri
Bottas's tyres, limiting his running.
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All drivers took to the track with stickers of support for Jules
Bianchi, Marussia's French driver who was severely injured in a
crash in Japan last Sunday and remains in critical condition.
Marussia announced before the session that they would have only one
car running this weekend, with Bianchi's assembled and left in the
garage as a mark of respect.
Chilton ended the session with the slowest time.
"I don't know how to put into words how truly devastated I am by
what has happened to Jules," he had said before the session started.
"It is going to be a very emotional weekend for the whole team, but
we will try to get through it and keep praying for Jules."
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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