The Red Bull pair of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel topped the charts in opening practice ahead of this weekend’s season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Webber on Friday thrilled his home fans with a best lap of one minute 26.831 seconds, just 0.327sec ahead of his world champion team-mate Vettel (1:27.158).
The duo confirmed Red Bull’s impressive winter testing ahead of the new season and they held the early pace ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
Webber, who is bidding to win his first home GP at his 10th attempt, reeled off his quickest lap in the last moments of the opening session, staged in cool cloudy conditions on the Albert Park street circuit. AFP
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Formula 1: Mark Webber Fastest in First Practice at Albert Park
Alonso was followed on the timesheets by Nico Rosberg, confirming Mercedes’ late return to form, and Rubens Barrichello, who again suggested that Williams may be a dark horse in 2011, but the biggest - and perhaps most welcome - surprise of the session was the appearance of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton in sixth and seventh places. McLaren had revealed a raft of changes to its MP4-26 in the build-up to the race weekend, and they appear to have worked as the two Britons initially put Webber and Vettel under pressure before being pushed back late in the session.
The second Mercedes of Michael Schumacher was eighth fastest, 1.8secs off Webber’s pace in a strung-out field, with Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) and Vitaly Petrov (Renault) completing the top ten. Both the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa and Petrov’s Renault team-mate Nick Heidfeld were close to the Russian as they filled eleventh and twelfth spots.
Adrian Sutil (Force India), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Maldonado, Australian debutant Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) and Sauber rookie Sergio Perez comprised the next bunch, separated by three tenths, before bigger gaps stretched back to Nico Hulkenberg - running Paul di Resta’s Force India - and Team Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen. The Virgin duo Jerome d’Ambrosio and Timo Glock were the only other drivers to set a flying lap as, in an echo of last season’s Bahrain opener, neither HRT entry made an appearance. Yahoo! Eurosport UK
POS DRIVER ENTRANT TIME 1 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 01:26.8 2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 01:27.2 3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:27.7 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 01:28.2 5 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:28.4 6 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:28.4 7 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:28.5 8 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 01:28.7 9 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 01:28.7 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:28.8 11 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:28.8 12 Nick Heidfeld Renault 01:28.9 13 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:29.3 14 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:29.3 15 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 01:29.4 16 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:29.5 17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 01:29.6 18 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 01:31.0 19 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 01:32.4 20 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 01:35.3 21 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:35.3 22 Narun Chandhok Lotus-Cosworth No Time 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth No Time 24 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth No Time
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