Welcome to ESPNF1's live commentary of first practice from the Japanese Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel can win the title this weekend with a single point but remarkably he still won't admit the title is his. The only man capable of stopping him is Jenson Button, but only if he wins the five remaining races and Vettel fails to finish.

The first session is just five minutes away. While never a great session for understanding the pecking order over the weekend, FP1 can offer plenty of thrills and spills and especially at Suzuka which is still one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar.

The drivers are getting into their cars under blue skies overhead. We should see plenty of running this morning.

The session is underway and a trickle of cars are heading out on the track for their installation laps.

Local hero Kamui Kobayashi is out on track and picking his way past the slower moving Lotus of Karun Chandhok.

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There are a number of new helmets on display today. I've spotted new lids on Button, Vettel, Liuzzi and Kobayashi already.

Alonso is out on track and cruising around the circuit on his installation lap. Hamilton and Vettel have now joined him.

Button is out on track, cruising through the long left-hander at Spoon. He's got a new contract behind him this weekend to give him a little added motivation.

Buemi, one man who doesn't yet have a contract for next year, is one of only two cars out on track. Petrov is the only man not to have completed an installation lap yet.

An update from Ferrari: "Again today FP1 programme will be mainly dedicated to the evaluation of different aerodynamic configurations."

Meanwhile, McLaren has tweeted: "Track looks in fantastic condition - and weather promises to be dry and sunny for the rest of the weekend!"

Two Indians are on track during this session, with Chandhok in the Lotus and Karthikeyan in the HRT.

Rosberg is back on track in the Mercedes. He's out on the medium compound tyres, which will be the only ones in use this morning. The drivers will bolt on a set of softs in the afternoon session.

Ferrari: "Fernando jumped out of the car: there will be some time to wait before running again. Felipe is ready to go out for another aero test."

Although it is brilliantly sunny at Suzuka it is also a bit windy. With a wind speed of 4.8mps blowing the cars down the pit straight.

Massa has returned to the pits, leaving Alguersuari as the only can out on track. A replay shows that the front of Massa's Ferrari is covered in lime green aero paint.

Ferrari is testing some 2012 upgrades this weekend.

Mark asks: "How many sets of the allocated tires will the teams use for practice?"

Each driver has nine tyres to use over the weekend - five hards and four softs. They have to hand back one set of hards after FP1 and one set of hards and one set of softs after FP2. That leaves them with six fresh sets - three soft, three hard - for qualifying on the race. To answer your question directly, the teams tend to use one set of hards in FP1 and a set of hards and a set of softs in FP2. Occasionally they also have development tyres in FP1 but Pirelli did not mention any thus weekend in its press release. Of course, they also have wet and intermediate tyres in case it rains.

Petrov has joined the action alongside the two HRTs.

Pirelli confirms most of what I've just said via Twitter: "We have the P Zero medium and P Zero yellow tyres today. But the drivers are expected to be using just the P Zero medium in FP1"

Ricciardo has started his first meaningful run and has set a 1:44.733, but is already going faster on this lap.

Pirelli adds: "There probably won't be that much running in the first session today, expect more action in FP2"

Ross says: "Looks like Narain Karthikeyan is going for his qualifying time already! Ha ha ha"

For those without access to timing, he's set a 1:42.909...

Kobayashi is out on track and in crowd-pleasing mode as he hustles the Sauber around the circuit. Hopefully he'll be a little quicker than he was yesterday in Sauber's latest creation.

© Sutton Images

The actual Sauber has lots of upgrades with new front and rear wings, a new floor and various turning vanes. It'll be worth keeping an eye on their pace this weekend.

The Ferrari drivers are back in the pits and out of their cars. The big teams will now wait for the track conditions to improve before heading back out.

Having typed that, Alonso has gone out on track!

Kobayashi is setting the pace at the moment with a 1:38.921. His team-mate Sergio Perez is also in action but 2.398s off the pace.

McLaren says: "Note that Lewis has special white 'Save Japan' raceboots and Jenson has his white and red special crash helmet this weekend."

Kobayashi improve to a 1:38.123 as more and more cars head out on track.

I should also mention that Nico Hulkenberg is sitting in for Adrian Sutil in this session, although he has only completed an installation lap so far. Shouldn't be too much of an issue for Sutil, who knows this track well from his Japanese F3-winning days.

Kobayashi picks up the pace once more with a 1:37.760. Maldonado is 3.015s off in second place.

Alonso is going very slowly through the final sector before launching himself into a hot lap.

Renault tweets: "Both cars return from their second installs, time for some brake bleeding and general fettlement"

Alonso has gone fastest with a 1:35.181. Webber is second on a 1:35.494.

Hamilton has set a 1:36.110 as he starts to ramp up its pace.

Vettel is also out on track and sets a 1:37.639 on his first timed lap. I'm sure he'll improve lap on lap.

Vettel just ran ever so slightly wide in Degner 1 but didn't lose control. That's a pretty serious corner in an F1 car nowadays and we've seen some big shunts there in recent years.

Maldonado has had a bit of a moment in the first sector and cut straight across the grass in the Esses. He's now pulled off the circuit so clearly has a problem with the car.

Alonso is still fastest with a 1:34.372 but has now returned to the pits. Hamilton is on a quick lap in the McLaren.

And Hamilton does set the fastest time with a 1:33.725. He's 0.647s faster than Alonso.

Force India says: "Nico Hulkenberg will be doing some brake work this session. Paul di Resta focussing on track acclimatisation."

Button has now clocked the quickest time, just 0.077s faster than team-mate Hamilton. Vettel is currently 1.094 off the lead McLaren but is still out on track.

It's very early days but the Toro Rossos are looking pretty handy in sixth and eighth at the moment. Alguersuari is only 1.289s off Button, which isn't too shoddy.

Vettel goes fourth fastest with a 1:34.375 as the rear of his car snaps out underneath him in the final corner. He had the DRS open which would have reduced his downforce considerably.

McLaren says: "Lewis is debriefing with Andy Latham and his engineers. On the other side of the garage, Jenson is doing the same thing with Dave Robson."

Before he returned to the pits, Vettel was taking 130R with his DRS wide open, which goes to show how much downforce the floor of the Red Bull creates.

Lotus on Chandhok: "Karun is working his way up to speed & learning the track - he hasn't raced here before"

Alonso's car has had some pretty extensive work on it with the floor just being bolted back on.

Button has gone back out on track to join the eight other cars out there.

Button is closing his DRS through 130R, but we know that the McLaren's moveable rear wing has a greater affect on downforce than the Red Bull's. Button is also running a lot of rear wing on the car so there is natuarally more to shed.

Glock has competed just six laps this session and his car is currently in pieces in the garage.

Ferrari reveals what it is up to with Alonso's car: "We're finishing to change the floor in Fernando's car. We would like to test the specification used in Belgium and compare it with the current one."

Sakon Yamamoto is sat on the Virgin pit wall for his home grand prix. Apparently he was also in Virgin's kitchen earlier this weekend making sushi and I imagine he will be behind the decks at some point this weekend as he is quite an accomplished DJ.

We've just had some fascinating on-board footage from the rear of Vettel's car as the DRS flicks open on every conceivable straight.

Ferrari says: "Felipe came in for some aero adjustments and then left the pit lane again. This is still part of the aero programme we are carrying on this morning."

Lotus tweets: "Karun says he's more confident to attack the track, & says the car is getting better in the high-speed stuff - that's good news at Suzuka!"

The McLarens' fastest times from earlier are still safe at the top of the timing sheets. Vettel is now third and 0.442s off Button's best.

Perez has just made a mistake after locking up into the final chicane. There have been very few mistakes so far, considering what an unforgiving circuit this can be.

Lotus' Mike Gascoyne says: "Karun out for his last lap, says on the last run the rear tyres were already finished and no traction coming out of corners."

The session is starting to wind down. We might see one more lap from the front runners but an improvement in lap times is unlikely as the tyres will be coming towards the end of their life, as Mike Gascoyne pointed out.

Rosberg's lastest lap was over seven seconds off the pace - he's probably on a heavier fuel run at the moment. He's only 16th fastest overall.

Mercedes tend to spend a lot of their Fridays working on race pace as they evaluate new parts and possibly 2012 parts. They are also pretty much guaranteed 7th and 8th on the grid as the fourth fastest team, so there is not much point in honing single-lap pace.

Vettel is back on track and pushing hard again. His 18 lap-old tyres are just about staying with him as he struggles a tad for traction out of the hairpin.

Vettel sets a time 1.667s off the pace, proving that his tyres are now past their best.

Ferrari says: "Fernando is coming in as well. As his teammate, he has finished the run passing through the pits for a practice start. The work on the starts begins in the first session and goes on the whole weekend."

Williams confirm that there is nothing wrong with Maldonado's car after a spike on his engine data following his mistake in the Esses. "No oil pressure problem for Pastor, just a spike from his off at turn 6"

Just two minutes remaining and 21 cars are out on track.

Button just came up fast behind Karthikeyan and the HRT swerved across the track at a rather inopportune moment. Button reacted by getting out the way but was clearly slightly miffed by the Indian.

Button is going faster again through the first sector.

Vettel is off at Degner 2. Just waiting on the replay, but he's buried his Red Bull in the barrier.

Button sets an even faster lap on his final attempt.

Vettel ran wide in Degner 1, got in the gravel and then couldn't slow his car before the barriers. The car isn't too damaged, only the front wing is damaged.

Vettel is running around an exit road and back to his car, looking a bit anxious.

It was the smallest of mistakes by Vettel but cost him dear. That's what makes Suzuka such a great circuit.

Thank you for joining us for this session. We'll be back with more action this afternoon in second practice. Make sure you join us.