• Turkish Grand Prix - FP1

Alonso fastest as Vettel spins out in wet session

Sebastian Vettel made a mess of his Red Bull after crashing at turn eight © Sutton Images

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Ferrari's Fernando Alonso set the fastest time in a rain-soaked first practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix, clocking a time 1.4 seconds clear of the two Mercedes in second and third.

The track was wet throughout the session but conditions allowed drivers to attempt laps on both the full-wet and intermediate tyres, the latter of which Alonso used to set the fastest time. Opting for intermediates had inherent risks however, as Sebastian Vettel found out when he lost control of his car on the exit of the infamous turn eight and crashed into the barriers.

Coming into the final section of the corner the rear of Vettel's Red Bull twitched slightly and it was enough to force him onto the artificial grass on the outside of the track, which in turn spun him back across the circuit and into the Armco barrier. The right-hand side of the car was demolished along with the front wing and the accident brought out the red flags, stopping the session. Vettel was completely uninjured but the car will require Red Bull's full attention to get it track-worthy for the afternoon session.

The usually flat-out turn 11 also caused problems for some drivers with standing water near the 160mph apex. Timo Glock, Michael Schumacher and Pastor Maldonado all left the circuit on the exit after the rear of their cars snapped out sideways at the apex. Maldonado had two spins at the corner, the second of which came towards the end of the session and saw him spin into the barriers as he rejoined the circuit.

In the end the 90 minutes served as little more than a wet tyre evaluation session as it was difficult to learn anything about the upgrade packages featuring on cars up and down the pit lane. Some drivers were reporting high wear rates on the full-wet tyres, which could be a concern as each car is only allocated three sets per weekend as well as four sets of intermediates.

One team that saw no advantage in going out was McLaren and Jenson Button completed just 2 laps - one installation lap at the start and one lap at the end so he could line up on the grid for a practice start. Lewis Hamilton had planned to do the same but stopped at the end of the pit lane with a sticking clutch before going out for his second lap.

The weather meant times were fairly meaningless - drier conditions are expected over the weekend - but for the record Mark Webber finished 11th and Vettel's fastest lap before his accident was good enough for 17th. The Renaults were fourth and fifth, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, Felipe Massa and Daniel Ricciardo.

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