Vettel Tops First Practice in Abu Dhabi

Sebastian Vettel dominated the first practice session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Friday, after setting the fastest time of 1:42.760. The German driver from Red Bull was followed on the timing reports by McLaren's duo Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

The action on the Yas Marina Circuit this morning was initially influenced by rain, as a short drizzle affected the running early on. That made the majority of the drivers in the field only complete installation laps, after which they settled back in the garage for better track conditions.

The Red Bulls and the McLarens stayed longer on the track, as they tested their new-spec rear wings introduced specifically for the season finale. Nevertheless, Hamilton didn't do a timed lap until 18 minutes to the finish line, when already the 24 cars that were on the track had helped create a cleaner, drier racing line.

That was actually what helped Vettel score his fastest lap late in the session, as he was the only driver to break the 1:43 seconds barrier this morning. Behind the McLaren pair was Red Bull's Mark Webber, followed by Renault's Robert Kubica and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. The Top 10 was completed by Mercedes' Michael Schumacher, Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi, Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld.

The only track incident of the morning action involved Lotus' test driver Fairuz Fauzy, who struggled with the early wet conditions and spun his car.

Here are the overall results of P1 on Friday:

01. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault)               1:42.760
02. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)             1:43.369
03. Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes)              1:43.785
04. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)                    1:43.840
05. Robert Kubica (Renault)                                  1:44.080
06. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)                               1:44.121
07. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)                    1:44.199
08. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari)                  1:44.604
09. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)                                1:44.718
10. Nick Heidfeld (Sauber-Ferrari)                         1:44.737
11. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)                                      1:45.160
12. Vitaly Petrov (Renault)                                     1:45.445
13. Rubens Barrichello (Williams-Cosworth)          1:45.474
14. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)                 1:45.552
15. Tonio Liuzzi (Force India-Mercedes)                 1:45.585
16. Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)            1:46.003
17. Nico Hulkenberg (Williams-Cosworth)               1:46.644
18. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)              1:47.105
19. Timo Glock (Virgin-Cosworth)                            1:48.450
20. Jarno Trulli (Lotus-Cosworth)                             1:48.472
21. Lucas di Grassi (Virgin-Cosworth)                     1:49.375
22. Bruno Senna (Hispania-Cosworth)                    1:49.590
23. Christian Klien (Hispania-Cosworth)                  1:50.274
24. Fairuz Fauzy (Lotus-Cosworth)                          1:51.705