Nico Rosberg and Brackley's Mercedes team will hope to have taken a step in the right direction following first practice ahead of Sunday's European Grand Prix.

Formula One's innovation race is now in full swing and Mercedes, along with Ferrari and Enstone-based Renault, have all finally caught up with Red Bull this weekend by employing a blown diffuser at the rear of the car.

The device, that aids performance by blowing exhaust gases through the diffuser, speeding up the air flow and so aiding grip, has proven particularly beneficial for Red Bull this season.

Even though McLaren will not be introducing their device until the British Grand Prix in a fortnight's time, their on-form duo in Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were at least in close attendance to Rosberg, who led the way after the first 90-minute session.

The German, who celebrates his 25th birthday on Sunday, was fastest with a lap of one minute 41.175secs for the 5.419km track as he also deployed the team's F-duct system - that stalls the rear wing and so again assists airflow and performance - to good effect too.

Rosberg finished 0.164secs ahead of championship leader Hamilton, who was a marginal 0.044secs quicker than Button.

Renault's Robert Kubica is another expected to perform well, with the Pole fourth, half a second down, and the only other driver to finish within a second of Rosberg.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa, the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, along with Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes were all just over a second off the pace, and all within 0.096secs of each other.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was ninth quickest, 1.2secs adrift, with the Grove-based Williams duo of Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg tenth and 11th, the Grove marque - like McLaren - not introducing their blown diffuser until Silverstone.