Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) a été le plus rapide de la première séance d’essais libres du Grand Prix de Russie. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) est 2e. Les Ferrari sont 3e et 4e. On retrouve également les 2 Red Bull et les 2 Williams dans le top 10.
| Pos. | No. | Pilote | Équipe | Temps | Écart | Tours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:38.127 | 32 | |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:38.849 | +0.722s | 31 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:39.175 | +1.048s | 19 |
| 4 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:39.332 | +1.205s | 18 |
| 5 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:39.365 | +1.238s | 14 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:39.650 | +1.523s | 24 |
| 7 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:39.802 | +1.675s | 34 |
| 8 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:40.218 | +2.091s | 26 |
| 9 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:40.287 | +2.160s | 22 |
| 10 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:40.654 | +2.527s | 21 |
| 11 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:40.663 | +2.536s | 19 |
| 12 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:40.771 | +2.644s | 18 |
| 13 | 46 | Sergey Sirotkin | Renault | 1:40.898 | +2.771s | 24 |
| 14 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:41.085 | +2.958s | 21 |
| 15 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:41.134 | +3.007s | 22 |
| 16 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 1:41.238 | +3.111s | 18 |
| 17 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:41.385 | +3.258s | 20 |
| 18 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:41.671 | +3.544s | 25 |
| 19 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:41.962 | +3.835s | 22 |
| 20 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | 1:42.483 | +4.356s | 21 |
| 21 | 88 | Rio Haryanto | Manor | 1:42.687 | +4.560s | 8 |
| 22 | 34 | Alfonso Celis | Force India | 1:43.432 | +5.305s | 23 |