• British Grand Prix

Vettel on top at Silverstone

Sebastian Vettel was fastest in the first session © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Report:
• Webber maintains Red Bull form
  

• Race:
• British Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Sebastian Vettel

• Teams:
• Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel set the early pace for the British Grand Prix weekend, after topping the timesheets for the first free practice session on Friday morning.

Vettel clocked a quickest time of 1:32.280, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and the Renault of Robert Kubica.

Both Hamilton and Jenson Button were running exhaust-blown diffusers on their McLarens for the first time, in the hope of closing the gap to Red Bull through high-speed corners. In front of his home fans, Button set the first timed lap at the new circuit but eventually finished the session eighth fastest.

The first glimpses of Silverstone's new Arena section made for interesting viewing, with drivers approaching it carefully while learning the layout. Michael Schumacher didn't find it totally to his liking and the seven-time world champion was the first to spin entering Village corner. A sizeable bump on the approach to the nearly-flat-out Abbey also caught out multiple drivers, including Hamilton on several occasions.

Force India's Adrian Sutil put in a strong performance to set the fifth fastest time, just 0.2 seconds shy of Mark Webber in the second Red Bull. Nico Rosberg was the highest placed Mercedes in sixth but was still a full second off Vettel, as the team aims to resolve the considerable problems it experienced in Valencia. Williams were also in the top ten with a significant upgrade to its car, Nico Hulkenberg taking advantage of improved rear-end grip from the double diffuser to set the seventh fastest time.

Ferrari, which had hoped to make big strides forward this weekend, was some way off the pace, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa setting the 13th and 17th fastest times respectively. However, with fuel loads unknown and so many teams experimenting with developments on their cars, the times are not necessarily indicative of the true order.

It was a disappointing opening session for Lotus test driver Fairuz Fauzy who had to sit out the majority of the session due to an engine failure only to stop on the circuit as the chequered flag came out. In the afternoon he will hand the car back to race driver Jarno Trulli.

Sakon Yamamoto, who replaced Bruno Senna at short notice, was slowest of all with a time 7.393 seconds off Vettel and 0.9 off team-mate Karun Chandhok.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.