Vettel Scored Fastest Time in British GP Practice 1

Red Bull Racing began this weekend's British Grand Prix in the same dominant manner they finished it last season – when they recorded an extraordinary 1-2 finish – although this time the duo did not take the Top 2 positions in the first practice session on Friday. Sebastian Vettel did however score the fastest time of the P1, setting a lap time of 1:32.380.

His teammate Mark Webber scored only the 4th fastest time of the day in his new RB6 – Vettel's old chassis, nicknamed Luscious Liz – with McLaren Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Renault's Robert Kubica finishing in between the two Red Bulls, in 2nd and 3rd respectively. The crowd's favorite finished the first 90 minutes of action on the new Silverstone track 0.334 seconds behind.

Force India's Adrian Sutil made a great impression in P1, finishing the session as the 5th fastest driver, while followed by Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg and Williams F1's Nico Hulkenberg. The overall Top 10 was completed by reigning world champion Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello.

The two Ferrari drivers were nowhere to be seen inside the Top 10 on Friday morning, with Fernando Alonso finishing more than 2 seconds off the pace in 13th place, while Felipe Massa had to settle for 17th place.

Needless to say, with the new Arena layout, the first 90 minutes of racing at Silverstone was more about learning the new venue and getting used to the high kerbs installed at Abbey – which the drivers are planning to change on Friday afternoon – rather than focusing on scoring fast lap times.

Michael Schumacher (twice), Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Nico Hulkenberg, Adrian Sutil and Fairuz Fauzy all lost control of their cars and ran wide in the slippery new Village loop, while several had troubles in the aforementioned Abbey section. All in all, the entire field went for the hard compound in P1, with the lap times improving minute after minute as soon as more rubber was left on the track.

01. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault)                       1:32.280
02. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)                     1:32.614
03. Robert Kubica (Renault)                                          1:32.725
04. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)                            1:32.747
05. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)                        1:32.968
06. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)                                        1:33.318
07. Nico Hulkenberg (Williams-Cosworth)                     1:33.377
08. Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes)                        1:33.519
09. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)                             1:33.955
10. Rubens Barrichello (Williams-Cosworth)                  1:34.016
11. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)                      1:34.132
12. Vitaly Petrov (Renault)                                              1:34.365
13. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)                                         1:34.490
14. Paul di Resta (Force India-Mercedes)                       1:34.580
15. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari)                            1:34.710
16. Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber-Ferrari)                            1:34.901
17. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)                                               1:35.037
18. Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)                    1:35.318
19. Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus-Cosworth)                         1:36.747
20. Timo Glock (Virgin-Cosworth)                                   1:37.330
21. Lucas di Grassi (Virgin-Cosworth)                            1:37.518
22. Karun Chandhok (HRT-Cosworth)                            1:38.735
23. Fairuz Fauzy (Lotus-Cosworth)                                 1:39.510
24. Sakon Yamamoto (HRT-Cosworth)                           1:39.673