GreenBkk.com Formula 1 | Practice One - Webber leads Vettel by a second in Spanish sun

Practice One - Webber leads Vettel by a second in Spanish sun

Red Bull's Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel led the way during Friday morning's first, relatively low-key, practice session in Spain, and the margin of their superiority was highlighted by the 1.007s gap between them.

Webber, desperate to get back into Victory Lane, was fastest with 1m 25.142s, with Vettel lapping in 1m 26.149s. That put him narrowly ahead of Nico Rosberg in the improving Mercedes on 1m 26.379s and Fernando Alonso in the improving Ferrari on 1m 26.480s. Behind them, Sergio Perez was a late jumper to fifth on 1m 26.738s in the upgraded Sauber, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton on 1m 26.988s. The 2008 world champion was assessing all of the upgrades that McLaren have brought this weekend.

Michael Schumacher was seventh in the second Mercedes in 1m 27.016s, just ahead of Nick Heidfeld in the Renault on 1m 27.132s and Jenson Button in the second McLaren on 1m 27.138s.

Rubens Barrichello gave Williams a much-needed boost with 10th fastest time of 1m 27.212s, but team mate Pastor Maldonado again blotted his copybook with a spin in Turn 12 which left him 13th on 1m 28.005s.

Between them, Vitaly Petrov was 11th on 1m 27.241s ahead of Toro Rosso tester Daniel Ricciardo who again did a strong job with a best lap of 1m 27.471s. Nico Hulkenberg's return to Force India duty yielded 14th place with 1m 28.027s, just ahead of Adrian Sutil on 1m 28.163s.

Behind them Felipe Massa was only 16th on 1m 28.654s as he pursued a different programme to Alonso, then came Kamui Kobayashi in the second Sauber on 1m 28.819s and Jaime Alguersuari in the second Toro Rosso on 1m 28.995s.

Lotus's hopes for a big performance jump got off to a promising start as Heikki Kovalainen took his revamped T128 round in 1m 29.231s, then there was a big gap to Jerome D'Ambrosio's Virgin on 1m 30.896s. Team mate Timo Glock was 21st on 1m 31.235s, fractions ahead of Tonio Liuzzi's HRT on 1m 31.268s. Jarno Trulli had a troubled morning for 1m 31.418s, and Narain Karthikeyan brought up the rear for HRT on 1m 32.106s.

Credit: Formula One Administration Ltd (www.formula1.com)