Mark Webber kept Red Bull on top of the timesheets as he led first practice for the European Grand Prix in Valencia.
The Australian was 0.824 seconds ahead of Vitaly Petrov’s Renault with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso third.
McLaren ran an updated car and Lewis Hamilton was fourth with Jenson Button seventh, and Red Bull’s championship leader Sebastian Vettel 16th.
Force India reserve Nico Hulkenberg, who was in Scot Paul di Resta’s car, crashed out of the session.
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Formula 1: Mark Webber Fastest in First Practice at Valencia
Valencia’s street circuit, which skirts along the Juan Carlos 1 marina, evolves significantly over the race weekend and there was plenty of dust and dirt as the drivers found their rhythm.
Despite some wobbles from Virgin driver Timo Glock and Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher, Force India reserve Hulkenberg was the only driver to fall foul of the ‘green’ track, hitting the wall within the first half an hour. BBC Sport
Nico Rosberg just failed to join that group with 1m 42.043s in the first Mercedes, chased by Jaime Alguersuari in the Toro Rosso on 1m 42.216s, Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher on 1m 42.270s and Daniel Ricciardo who was standing in again for Sebastien Buemi in the other Toro Rosso which he took round in 1m 42.412s.
Not too far away were Williams’ Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado, on 1m 42.704s and 1m 42.841s, and they were separated by the returned Sergio Perez who lapped his Sauber C30 in 1m 42.738s. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel had a troubled morning which yielded only 1m 42.941s and left the championship leader in 16th place. Formula 1
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired 1 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:40.4 2 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:41.2 3 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:41.2 4 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:41.5 5 9 Nick Heidfeld Renault 01:41.6 6 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:41.8 7 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:41.9 8 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:42.0 9 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:42.0 10 19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 01:42.2 11 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 01:42.3 12 18 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 01:42.4 13 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:42.7 14 17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 01:42.7 15 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 01:42.8 16 1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:42.9 17 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 01:43.2 18 15 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 01:43.8 19 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 01:44.1 20 25 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 01:45.0 21 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:45.2 22 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 01:45.5 23 22 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 01:46.9 24 21 Karun Chandhok Lotus-Renault No time
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