Good morning and welcome to ESPNF1's live coverage of free practice for the European Grand Prix. We're set fair for a hot weekend in Valencia, but as you know that doesn't mean the teams will all be happy with their set-ups come race day...

The four hours of track time before qualifying are especially crucial for the likes of Jenson Button - struggling massively at present - and the two Lotus drivers. Lotus is one of the favourites for this weekend but both Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean acknowledge the need for a "perfect" weekend in order to release the full potential of the E20 and become the eighth different winner this season

We've seen some great images already out in the sun in Valencia, with the drivers in good moods during yesterday's media sessions. Here's my personal favourite:

© Sutton Images

As always, we'd love to hear from you throughout this weekend and certainly this session. You can do so either using the link above or via Twitter @ESPNF1

And the first email in to us today is from Martin in New Zealand who says: "Really looking forward to this one. The whole season has become so exciting now with multiple winners. Enjoy your commentary while I watch it live on tele. Keep up the good work."

Thanks for the kind words Martin, and we're with you - it's almost strange to be so excited by a race in Valencia but this genuinely could be another great one.

And the first email in to us today is from Martin in New Zealand who says: "Really looking forward to this one. The whole season has become so exciting now with multiple winners. Enjoy your commentary while I watch it live on tele. Keep up the good work."

Thanks for the kind words Martin, and we're with you - it's almost strange to be so excited by a race in Valencia but this genuinely could be another great one.

Mike from Melbourne emails in to say: "C'mon Schuey... Lets make it 9 from 9..."

It'll actually be the eighth different winner from eight races, Mike, but if you're being very forward thinking then we like it - a Lotus victory this weekend and then Schumacher at Silverstone!

Strangely, after all the talk about the hot weather it's actually clouded over now. Air temperature is only 23C (I say "only", that depends on where in the world you are) but it was hitting 37C yesterday in the sun. In fact, it's very windy indeed and a little bit grey...

Before we go green, the driver changes for this morning are: Bottas is in at Williams for Senna and Bianchi drives Hulkenberg's Force India

The pit lane light goes green and Kobayashi is first out followed by the two Toro Rossos

The track will be dirty and low on grip this morning, and Maldonado has just proven my point as he passes Bianchi on the installation laps and kicks up a lot of dust

Rahulan from India asks: "What are the chances of a Ferrari victory this weekend? can we see Massa as the 8th winner?"

Well Ferrari will be very hopeful of challenging for the win once again this weekend, but Alonso would obviously be the favourite out of its two drivers. Massa believes he can fight for it too, though, and he has shown an improvement in his performances during the last two races

Speaking of Ferrari, lots of flo-viz on the front wing and the outside corners of its diffuser on the installation laps

Button returns to the pits after his installation lap - he's going to be running Hamilton's set-up initially in order to try to find a way around his recent troubles

Webber heads out on track - only Glock is yet to take to the circuit

Luthando emails in to voice his dissent with the influence the Pirelli tyres are having on the racing this season so far. One question raised is "are the tyres so extreme in their complexity that any cars underlying pace is masked by the tyres magical and mysterious operating window?"

The answer to that is yes and no. Obviously the operating window is a moving target which is tough for the teams, but the problems are accentuated because the field is so close this season. Make no mistake, the Pirelli tyres are not solely responsible for a more level playing field - the lack of an exhaust blown diffuser means the midfield teams don't have such complex technology to work with and as a result have closed right up on the front-runners

@amanw89 on Twitter says: "Wonder if we get a chance to see Schumacher's tyre managing capabilities this race. @ESPNF1 possible mercedes 1-2 w/o any tech issues."

Glock completes his installation lap, so everyone has been out on track. However, at present there's nobody out there

It really doesn't look all that pleasant on some parts of the track. Being on the coast the wind is really strong, and at present it is a tail wind in to the big braking zone of turn 12

Installation laps complete, teams are now working away in the garages - @InsideFerrari on Twitter: "Now, it's time to check that everything is ok with the cars and then we can go on with the programme"

Speaking of Ferrari (again), it appears to be courting Vettel at present and even Alonso is getting in on the act

Kobayashi and Vergne had ended the relative silence and rejoined the track

The two tyre compounds for this weekend are soft and medium, with all of the running taking place on medium tyres this morning

Vergne has just crossed the start/finish line to start a timed lap - the first driver to do so today

And the first timed lap is a 1:45.619

The sun has just broken through slightly at one part of the track, but it looks like being a while before any of this cloud burns off and we see the sort of temperatures expected for the rest of the weekend

Vergne improves to a 1:43.449 while Ricciardo's first timed lap is a 1:44.818

On his timed lap, Ricciardo outbraked himself slightly in to turn 12 - no doubt due to the tail wind - and then got perilously close to the wall with the DRS open through turn 16

It might seem odd that I said DRS open through a corner, but there 'straights' here are actually curved most of the way and a few of the kinks are numbered corners

Ricciardo now down to a 1:43.165 ahead of Vergne

Bottas, Kovalainen and Alonso out there too. Bottas has done a 1:46.425 on his first timed lap

The fastest lap in FP1 last year was a 1:40.403 set by Mark Webber

And the fastest time at present is a 1:42.944 from Vergne

Kovalainen runs wide at turn 12 - he won't be the last to do that

Raikkonen goes fastest with a 1:42.589

Grosjean also on an early quick lap and does a 1:42.457

Hamilton having a close look at Alonso's Ferrari as it is wheeled back in to the garage

The two Lotus drivers trading fastest times, Raikkonen now quickest on a 1:41.769

While Alonso gets a new front wing in the garage, Massa is setting times and is second quickest on a 1:42.401

Rosberg is out on track but it's currently the Toro Rossos with the highest top speed at 318kph

Despite that, Rosberg goes quickest on a 1:41.182

We're expecting more of the front runners to take to the track in the next few minutes - Vettel, Webber, Hamilton and Button are yet to head back out after their installation laps, while Alonso hasn't set a time. And we're approaching half way in the session

And as I say that, Button and Alonso head out

Button and Hamilton, incidentally, are in an unchanged McLaren - Hamilton said yesterday he was hoping for updates at Silverstone

De la Rosa runs wide at turn 12 and it appeared that his DRS had stuck open, strangely

Button has to bail out of turn two and take to the escape road on his first timed lap. He then complains that his KERS isn't working properly

Indeed de la Rosa's DRS was stuck open, so he pits. We hadn't seen that before but now it's happened twice in two rounds after Schumacher's retirement in Canada

Alonso yet to complete a flying lap, now he's on one and does a 1:41.524 for third quickest

Maldonado goes quickest with a 1:40.890

Bottas has been confined to the garage for a while with the engine cover and exhaust manifold off his Williams

With less than 40 minutes to go both Glock and di Resta are yet to take to the track again since their installation laps

Alonso sets the fastest middle sector but only goes second quickest

Hamilton the latest to run wide at turn 12

Pierre asks what KERS means - KERS stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery System; energy that would usually be lost under braking is stored to then be released as an extra horsepower boost when a driver presses the button

Hamilton and Vettel have improved their lap times to go in the top five. First to sixth are covered by 0.4s

Chris in a sunny but cold Perth asks: "Are we in for an exciting Grand Prix or will it be the usual Valencia bore-athon? This year with all the front runners (and some of the mid-pack) so close in lap times, overtaking is likely to be even rarer. Even more than Monaco, is qualifying position going to dictate the race?"

I don't think we're in for the usual boring race, Chris. If you look at it another way the teams could all look to use different strategies to gain a little advantage and as we've seen throughout this year that leads to a lot of overtaking

Vettel goes second - just 0.105s slower than Maldonado

The cloud cover is still preventing the track temperature from rising too much and as a result is stopping the lap times from falling too much further

Schumacher looked set to go quickest but a big lock-up in to the final corner cost him

Maldonado runs wide at turn 12. Vergne then locks up at the final corner, runs wide and pits

Di Resta has been building up his times and sets the fastest middle sector en route to the fourth quickest time - a 1:41.105

Webber goes second, less than 0.1s slower than Maldonado

Lock-ups are becoming more and more common at present as the grip levels start to improve and drivers get a little later on the brakes

Bottas back on track after Williams completed the work on the rear of his car

Button improves to ninth fastest after getting back on track - he was kept in the garage for a bit to solve his KERS and brake complaints - but he's still 0.7s off the pace

Big lock-up for Massa at turn 12 and he runs very wide

Alonso is angry after Karthikeyan baulked him in the fast final sector. I think there was a bit of confusion about which side Alonso wanted to pass on, and he was forced to abandon the end of his lap as he shakes his head in the cockpit

Button is following Alonso and has improved his best time to a 1:41.128 - just 0.238s off the fastest time but only good enough for seventh

Kobayashi goes wide at turn 14. The drivers are pushing in search of more grip but the track is still dirty

Button goes third quickest on a 1:40.994 having lost about 0.4s in the final sector

De la Rosa with a big lock-up at turn one and he has to spin it round in the run-off area

Button was a quarter of a second up through the first two sectors but he's just locked up both fronts heavily in to turn 17 and backs off

Maldonado heads out on track again, and he's still the quickest man out there. Just 0.292s cover first to ninth

Button's lock-ups appear to have cost him and he's slower on this lap. He pits

Vettel with some opposite lock as he takes too much kerb at turn five

Schumacher locks up in to turn 12 and decides to skip 13 to continue

At present there's a lot of cars slowly cruising round looking for a gaps on the track

Button's having some more work done in the McLaren garage so may struggle to get back out on track

Schumacher loses the rear on entry to turn ten and very nearly kisses the wall with his left rear tyre

Vettel sets the fastest final sector and goes second quickest with a 1:40.973

Bianchi goes 15th quickest - 1.2s slower than Maldonado. Di Resta is a second quicker than his team-mate

Schumacher the latest man to have to turn his car round in the run-off area at turn two

Laura emails in to ask about tyre compounds: We've got soft and medium compounds available this weekend, but only the medium has been used this morning for all of the running

Shiv asks: "Can we see two of the Force India drivers specially Paul in Q3 this week? Their pace looks good from Canadian Grand Prix."

I think we could Shiv, yes. Di Resta may be better placed to do so because Hulkenberg is missing FP1, but at the very least I think they could be good for some solid points after the team believes it has discovered something with the Pirelli tyres in Canada

Webber gets angry with Alonso having been blocked by the Ferrari in the final sector

The chequered flag is out and nobody is on a quicker lap so Maldonado will finish the session quickest

Bottas completes a lap but stays 16th

I had almost spoken too soon - Vettel was on a good lap after improving in sector two but he stays second

So at the end of FP1 we have another very close session as Maldonado in first is just 0.292s quicker than Rosberg in ninth place. Interestingly, the Lotus pair were 10th and 11th but half a second behind that group ahead - temperature related?

It's a tough session to read in to, with the track evolving all the time as more rubber goes down. Red Bull is clearly strong, though, with Vettel second and Webber third. A mention too to Kovalainen in 17th - 0.3s ahead of both Toro Rossos and only 1.5s off the quickest time. Caterham was hoping its upgrades would move it closer to the midfield and will look to continue that kind of progress

So that's it for this morning, make sure you join us for FP2 when perhaps we can learn a bit more as we see long runs and the soft tyres used. We'll be back about half an hour before the session starts, so in two hours. See you then.