Hello and welcome to Valencia for the first practice session of the European Grand Prix.

The cars are leaving the pits for their installation laps and we are getting the first few images of Ferrari with its brand new exhaust system. The outlets are mounted very low and aren't actually immediately obvious as they are tucked away under the curve of the engine cover. The team is hoping they can close the gap to Red Bull and McLaren but we'll have to wait and see on that.

Hamilton is also in the pits getting a closer look at the Ferrari. The idea is that the exhaust gases are fed through the diffuser to improve downforce. McLaren will have a similar system in Silverstone and we are expecting Renault and Mercedes to try something similar this weekend.

No lap times have been set yet, but all the cars bar Hamilton have been out for an installation lap.

Schumacher is out on track, this is the first time he has seen this circuit from the cockpit. So he'll be keen to get plenty of running in this morning to figure out the fastest line through all 25 corners.

And now the track falls quiet. The surface will be very green, but unlike Canada, the track actually gives up quite a bit of grip so we won't see the same kind of tyre problems as we had in Montreal.

The other major development out there to keep an eye on is Red Bull's F-duct. The team didn't run it in Canada after a few problems in Turkey, but they are confident it will be working better this weekend.

Paul di Resta is subbing in for Adrian Sutil at Force India in this session and Christian Klien is in Karun Chandhok's car. They will swap back for the next session and the rest of the weekend.

Force India have sent di Resta and Liuzzi out to test their F-duct (SRW): FP1 is go. Some srw action on both cars and circuit familiarisation for Valencia debutants Tonio and Paul.

Button clocks the best lap time yet with a 1:43.245. The only other driver to have set one is di Grassi with a 1:47.938.

As always, those times will drop by a huge amount as the track rubbers in.

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Sir Stirling Moss is on Twitter and says: "What world cup? F1 is back, FP1 underway, the rise of the Red machine this w/e to make up for Italian sporting pride?"

Klien is taking it very easy on track, it'll be interesting to see how he gets on compared to Senna in this session.

Klien's first time is 8.338 off Button's. That time is outside 107% so under next year's qualifying rules it would not be enough to qualify.

Senna in the second HRT runs a bit wide into the chicance splitting the two long back straights. When I say straights, both actually have a considerable kink in them but they are taken flat out and are very wide.

It's very dusty out there, especially in the pit lane.

Senna's wing mirror just fell off the HRT car and into the path of Buemi's Toro Rosso. Not good this early in the weekend, let's hope that doesn't happen in the race.

Button's time is stull the fastest, Kobayashi has now set a 1:43.777

The session has been stopped, due to Senna's mirror falling off. A number of cars hit it and the marshals have been out on track sweeping bits away.

The mirror fell off the car and hit Senna's helmet. He's absolutely fine but won't be best pleased.

Massa is out on track in the Ferrari, the car is squirming around underneath him suggesting the track is still poretty dusty on line. But it'll be important for Ferrari to get some mileage on the new parts.

Renault have only just got their two cars out on track for a flying lap: "Both Robert and Vitaly about to start their first run of the day."

Schumacher has now set the fastest lap in the Mercedes. He's pushing very hard and just ran wide in turn 2. Rosberg is second fastest and the Ferraris of Alonso and Massa are third and fourth.

Massa just runs wide at turn 17. A lot of cars making small mistakes. Alonso also ran wide at turn 2.

Rosberg is now quickest with a 1:41.862. Button was on a fast lap but has aborted it now, holding up the HRT of Klien.

Nenad asks: "What is a major upgrade for Ferrari this weekend? McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh has said that Ferrari could be unstoppable in Valencia."

They are running lower exhausts like Red Bull have been doing all year. The idea is that the exhaust gases are fed into the diffuser to increase downforce. It could be worth around 0.5 seconds. Renault is also running a similar system for the first time and we beleive Mercedes are as well. McLaren will introduce theirs at the British Grand Prix.

Hamilton is now fastest with a 1:41.339. Just to confirm, Mercedes is also running the Red Bull-style exhaust system that feeds the diffuser.

Hamilton is on another fast lap but is coming up behind Kovalainen's Lotus. Hamilton does get held up and decides to return to the pits.

Liuzzi and Senna add themselves to the list of drivers who have run wide at turn two. The barriers jut out there so if they are committed and make a mistake they will make a big mess of the car. So far, the drivers have been backing out of the corner early and using the extensive run off area to the left of that barrier.

Alonso waits at the end of the pit lane for a long time, just checking to see if the car overheats when it is left stationary.

The cation has died down now. Kubica is the only front runner out on track. he's currnetly fourth fastest 0.544 off the pace.

At the moment the two Mclarens are split by 0.044 seconds and are 0.523 faster than anyone else. But with all the new bodywork and exhaust systems being trialled in this session, the chances are that the Ferraris and Red Bulls aren't pushing to the limit just yet.

One man who is pushing to the limit is Hulkenberg in the Williams, who scrapes the wall on the exit of turn 3.

Kubica is now someway into his long run and has just set a time 0.376 off Hamilton's fastest of 1:41.339.

Rosberg is told not to use his F-duct on his first timed lap of this run, presumablty to then run a comparison lap.

Other news is that both HRTs have broken down and the chances are they won't be running for the rest of this session.

And Rosberg is told to use his F-duct on his second lap and sets his fastest first sector... and his fastest second sector... he finishes the lap by setting the fastest time so far, with a 1:41.175.

Hamilton is out on track but the car looks heavy and he is some way off the fastest lap set by Rosberg.

Button is also out on track, but he too is setting times a few seconds off the pace.

Force India is about to start a couple of ten minute runs with its tow drivers: "Tonio and Paul both going out now and running to the flag."

As usual the McLarens are the fastest two drivers through the speed trap. It just goes to show that they still have an F-duct that works that bit better than the rest.

Hamilton runs wide again through turns 12 and 13.

Just five minutes remaining in this session but nobody appears to be on low fuel runs to threaten Rosberg's time.

Lotus is complaining of tyre wear at the moment but it doesn't appear to be on the same level as Canada. Alguersuari also reports that his tyres are destroyed.

AS the session come to an end, Rosberg holds on to the top spot, ahead of Hamilton and Button.

It's very early days but we can expect a fairly close battle at the front this weekend between McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and possibly Mercedes as well.

As always, we will get a better idea of who's quick and who's not in FP2 when the drivers embark on some soft tyre runs. make sure you join us from 12.00GMT, 13.00BST or, if you prefer, 14.00 local time.