Hello and welcome to ESPNF1's live coverage of the Indian Grand Prix. It's a warm, hazy morning at the Buddh International Circuit for the second ever race weekend here

Before we get started, a bit of news for you this morning: Esteban Gutierrez will run in FP1 in place of the unwell Sergio Perez at Sauber

Perez came down with a cold ahead of the weekend and missed his media calls on Thursday after going back to his hotel. The team said it is likely he will return for the rest of the weekend.

Here's an update on the weather from our man at the circuit: "Sunshine breaking through but still very hazy around the circuit with pretty low visibility. A nice warm start at 24C already and track temperatures up at 30C"

Last year we had an unwelcome visitor on the track when a dog broke on to the circuit and caused a red flag. The level of preparation all round has stepped up a gear this year so hopefully we won't see the same again in this session.

Williams has Valtteri Bottas in Bruno Senna's car again this weekend for FP1 and Giedo van der Garde is in Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham.

Ferrari have laid down a sheet of plastic to protect the garage floor from the lashings of flo-vis aero paint they are about to put on Alonso's car.

Vergne and Ricciardo lead the cars out on track. Grosjean and Gutierrez are also straight out of the pits at the start of this session.

Half the field is out on track for an installation lap. It's the cars' first outing in a couple of weeks since Korea so the teams want to make sure everything is operation as it should.

Raikkonen is cruising round at the start of this session. The long camera shot down the second straight shows the extent of the haze, but it's not really a visibility issue for the drivers.

Schumacher has a small half spin at the third corner. An odd one as he gets to grips with his Mercedes' handling this weekend.

Rosberg is cruising through turns 10 and 11, which still look magnificent this year. Nobody is really pushing yet and di Resta tells his team that there "is not much grip at all".

Caterham tweets: "Both cars are back and, as expected, the track is 'still pretty slippery'."

The track goes quite again with all the cars back in the pits. The dusty surface might put a few teams off completing a lot of laps in this early session, but we're hoping the need to test updates means there is a fair bit of traffic out there.

Robert asks: "Do you think we will be seeing another good result from Massa this weekend even though this isn't his favourite track?"

It's true that Massa had a pretty terrible weekend here last year after struggling with the kerbs in the second sector and then making contact with Hamilton in the race. However, he was sixth on the grid and wasn't in the best of form this time last year. I don't see any reason why he can't continue in his current vein of form, he's certainly improved a lot in recent weeks.

Still no action on track ...

Renault Sport tweets: "Drivers will be playing with the throttle, particularly through Turns 10 and 11 with a profile similar to the Spoon Curve in Japan"

Alex asks: "I really hope there will be a possibility of a strong showing / podium or pole position for Schumacher before he retires. What do you guys think?"

It's not looking very likely, is it? Mercedes have dropped off the pace in recent weeks despite bringing new updates to the car. The feeling is that the focus is very much on 2013, but the team does need to keep Sauber behind it in the constructors' so there's some incentive to remain competitive. Schumacher himself says his "batteries are in the red zone" but it would be unlike him not to try to put in one more fantastic performance before the end of his career.

Akshay asks: "Hi...any chance of Adrian Sutil coming back next season?"

His best chance, oddly enough, is with his old team Force India when Nico Hulkenberg heads for Sauber. He's been in the paddock on several weekends this year and most the time as a guest of Force India. He was a very talented driver when he left F1 so he should be more than capable of making a smooth return. Outside of Force India it's hard to imagine him coming back with any other team, but never say never.

Gutierrez is back on track in the Sauber. It makes sense for him to head out and rack up the laps as the team will be analysing him as a potential race driver for next year.

Another interesting tweet from Renault Sport: There are also checks of filters going on - the dust kicked up from the sandy fields around the circuit creates a very hazy atmosphere. The small particles may be ingested into the engine so we'll try filters based on rally raid, desert-style rallying! "

Veenesh asks: "Any truth on the Honda to Mclaren? I would be exited because as a Mclaren fan we don't have "works" engines next year."

It won't happen next year as Honda would have to blow the dust off its old V8s, which weren't very competitive at the time! Honda has shown interest in the new regulations, but unless it has a secret engine programme would struggle to get the ball rolling in time for 2014. McLaren's engine contract with Mercedes runs out in 2015, so read what you will into that!

Maldonado has set a 1:33.381 and is 0.451s faster than Hamilton who is also on track.

Now Button ups the pace to a 1:32.349.

Grosjean runs wide at turn nine but there is plenty of space out there for him to rejoin safely.

Button improves again to a 1:31.141 as McLaren gets its update testing underway.

Senna runs wide at turn 15. Again, plenty of run off and no damage done.

Button is still ramping up the pace with a 1:29.684. He's 2.390s faster than anyone else at the moment.

John asks: "It's difficult to look past Vettel winning his 3rd championship in a row seeing the current form of Red bull. What's the feeling in the paddock about Ferrari and Alonso? Is there still hope they can mount a challenge to Red Bull or is it a case of hoping Vettel has 1 or 2 DNF's and Alonso picks up decent points?"

The feeling is that it's Vettel's to lose rather than Alonso's to win, but no one at Red Bull is being complacent and no one at Ferrari is giving up. If 2012 has taught the paddock anything it's that the competitive order can change dramatically from race to race. Now the teams have a good understanding of the tyres that is less likely, but the gaps at the front are not as big as they might seem over one lap on the stopwatch.

Maldonado is the latest man to run wide in the long turn 10 and 11. Again, no major issues as he takes to the run-off and returns to the track. He returns to the pits and his team puts a new front wing on.

Rosberg sets the second fastest time with a 1:30.918 but is still 1.234s off Button.

Rosberg is improving again with the fastest time in sector one ... he sets a personal best in sector two but is 0.2 down on Button ... and goes second, 0.714s off Button after losing more time in the final sector.

Kobayahsi and Vergne leave the track at different corners.

Rosberg improves again and sets a 1:29.811 to move within in 0.127 of Button. The Mercedes is currently the fastest along the straights in sector one.

Vettel completes a lap to go 18th fastest but was only cruising round and short shifting.

Schumacher is now fastest with a 1:29.598, but it lasts just a few seconds as Webber sets a 1:28.963.

Vettel goes second fastest as he picks up the pace. He sets a time 0.288s off his team-mate.

Nitish asks: "Seb is young and firing. Webber is old and not as aggressive as Vettel. Both have same cars but Vettel on any day will do better than Webber even though he is more experienced on the tracks. Is age (and aggressiveness) a main reason for such differences in performances?"

Age is not really an issue for F1 drivers, certainly not at Mark's age. Natural talent and being at ease with the car are the main things. We've seen in the past that when the car suits Webber he can beat Vettel, but Vettel is more consistent overall.

Ronald asks: "I thought Senna was sick ???"

You must be thinking of Perez, who has been replaced by Gutierrez for this session.

Colin asks: "Now that both Felipe and Mark are competitive, what happen if they are ahead of their respective team mates. Will we see team orders?"

In Massa's case: yes. In Webber's case: maybe but he won't listen.

Webber made it quite clear yesterday that he will not heed any team orders telling him to move over for Vettel. Massa has been given a new contract on the understanding that he is very much Alonso's No.2.

Alonso now pops up in second with an identical time to Webber on a 1:28.963. He's officially second as the driver who sets the time first gets the higher position.

Robert says: "Nitish, still early days but Webber is proving to be the fastest so far in P1 no matter the age difference.."

Vinay asks: "What's happening at Ferrari? Did they bring any upgrades for this grand prix?"

I don't think Ferrari has anything major this weekend but the team is confident it can get a lot of its recent upgrades working properly this weekend and has small pieces coming to every race. The team completed a straight-line test this week which helped shed some light on the problems it was having with correlation with its wind tunnel.

Peter: "I suppose this has been asked before, but do the cars have ballast in them to compensate for the different weight of the drivers? A classic case is the weight/height difference between Sebastian and Mark."

The cars are designed to be underweight so the teams can place ballast lower in the car, although the forward/rearward weight distribution has been set in the regulations since Pirelli joined the sport. If you have a heavier driver you then have less ballast, which is a disadvantage and was a big problem when the teams first introduced the bulky KERS units. So it's true that Webber is at a slight disadvantage in that respect, but keeps himself very trim to make up for it.

Hamilton is now third fastest and 0.536s off Webber's time. The order is now starting to take a more familiar shape.

Gutierrez runs wide at turn nine and very nearly ends up in the barrier on the way down to turn 10. If Perez was starting to feel a little bit better, that would have been enough to send him green as he saw his car heading for the barrier. Thankfully, Gutierrez managed to keep it away from the Armco. He's currently 19th.

Alonso now goes fastest by 0.019s, it doesn't last though as Hamilton pips him by 0.164s with a 1:28.046.

Alonso made a mistake in turn five on his lap so there is still more time to be found.

Daniel says: "I think Kimi does have a realistic chance of winning the WC. Even if he doesn't though, should not he be commended for achieving this kind of success this year after having been out for 2 full years?"

Can't say I agree with you on the first statement given the current pace of the Lotus, but totally agree with the second part.

Siddhedh asks: "Could Rosberg be trying a different setup to his team-mate? He is consistently quickest in S1, and about 0.5 up on Schumi's best S1 time, but losing time in S2."

It certainly looks that way. Or he may have been trialling different parts. But certainly the difference in sector times is interesting.

Here's their sector times from their fastest laps: Rosberg S1: 42.5, S2: 24.3, S3: 21.9 Schumacher S1: 42.9, S2: 24.0, S3: 21.9

Ronald asks: "Senna is not in your list, that is why I thought he must be sick."

Ah, I see what you mean. No, he has to give his car to Bottas during 15 of the first practice sessions this year and this is one of them. He's pretty sick of doing that but not physically sick.

Shatheesh: "Hi, Lets talk about Narain Karthikeyan. Seems like he is doing a great job running between 19 and 22. The joy of Indian Grand Prix clearly shows over him. Do you think he deserves a drive with Force India (being both from the same nation)?"

He will be aiming to beat his team-mate this year, as he managed last year, but can't really hope for much more because of the car. However, I don't think he deserves a drive based on nationality as I think each team should put the best possible two drivers it can in the car.

Pierre says: "would be interesting to know what Lotus have been doing with their 2 cars in the garage for the last 20 minutes?"

Lots of you asking about Lotus... Raikkonen is testing a new "nose box" and the team tweets: "We are continuing with our pace confusion policy for FP1: we're currently P13 with Kimi and P16."

Confused? Well, it basically means they haven't shown their true pace yet.

Although to confuse things further, Raikkonen is now up to tenth. Grosjean 15th.

Madhan asks: "Alonso & massa running on same exhaust ? Any update on the double drs for ferrari. Also whom do you think gonna be fast in the lengthy straight line BIC"

I believe they are running the same exhaust layout. Ferrari have front and rear wing updates and have been doing back-to-back tests with and without them.

So with a minute left, Vettel is fastest on a 1:27.618, 0.425s ahead of Alonso and 0.427s ahead of Hamilton.

Button pops in to second place with a 1:27.929 on his final run. The track has been improving throughout the session and he set that time on 22-lap old hard tyres.

The session comes to an end with Vettel's time safe at the top of the timesheets. Button, Alonso, Hamilton and Webber are all up there too and it's a bit risky to read too much into the times at this stage as the track was evolving all the time as the cars cleared away the dust.

Thanks for joining us during this session. We'll be back for more of the same in FP2, make sure you join us.