German Sebastian Vettel was surprise fastest in first free practice for the European Grand Prix.
Vettel, 21, one of the most promising young drivers in the field who is leaving the Toro Rosso team for Red Bull next season, had earlier lapped with a best time of one minute and 40.496 seconds on the new 5.42-km Valencia street circuit.
Brazilian Felipe Massa was second for Ferrari ahead of championship leading Briton Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren.
Vettel is 16th in the championship standings with six points - 56 behind Hamilton - going into Sunday’s race, the 12th of 18 this season.
Toro Rosso teammate Sebastien Bourdais timed 1:41.099 for fourth place in the session, while Hungarian GP winner Heikki Kovalainen finished fifth for McLaren Mercedes with 1:41.163.
Defending champion Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari only managed seventh, behind BMW’s Robert Kubica.
Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima (1m 41.329s), Renault’s Fernando Alonso (1m 41.385s), Williams’ Nico Rosberg (1m 41.706s), Honda’s Rubens Barrichello (1m 41.830s), Toyota’s Jarno Trulli (1m 41.930s) and Force India’s Adrian Sutil (1m 41.951s). The Force Indias, incidentally, were running their seamless-shift transmissions again and will keep them for qualifying and the race.
| 
|