Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time in Friday’s opening practice for the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix.
Vettel, who won last year’s race here, recorded a time of 1 minute, 32.585 seconds at the Suzuka circuit to outpace teammate and championship leader Mark Webber, indicating the Red Bulls could be the team to beat this weekend.
Renault driver Robert Kubica was third fastest.
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McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton crashed in the morning session, running wide in the Degner bend and hitting a tire barrier, damaging his car but not himself. Mainichi Daily News
Force India’s Adrian Sutil was another half second off Kubica in fourth and quickly found a good set-up in the high-speed corners before a minor hydraulic issue limited his running slightly.
The two Williams again look quick with the sixth and seventh fastest times, ahead of a confidence-boosting performance for both Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes and Nick Heidfeld in the Sauber. Nico Rosberg was tenth fastest but ended the session in the garage with mechanics inspecting the floor and rear-end of his car. ESPN F1
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired 1 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:32.6 2 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:32.6 3 11 Robert Kubica Renault 01:33.1 4 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:33.6 5 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:33.6 6 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:33.7 7 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 01:33.7 8 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 01:33.7 9 22 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:33.8 10 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 01:33.8 11 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:33.9 12 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:34.0 13 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:34.2 14 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:34.3 15 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:34.4 16 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 01:34.4 17 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 01:35.0 18 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 01:35.7 19 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 01:36.9 20 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:37.3 21 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 01:37.4 22 25 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 01:37.8 23 21 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 01:38.8 24 20 Sakon Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 01:39.4
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