Fernando Alonso delighted his Spanish fans by finishing Friday's practice in the P1 slot despite a bit of a coming together with Nick Heidfeld.
Alonso proved to be there and there about throughout the session, often going quickest before dropping a few places only to then rise to the top. But, with 15 minutes left on the clock, the Spaniard locked his brakes, sending him into the side of Heidfeld's BMW. The damage put Heidfeld out of the session although a new front wing saw Alonso put in a blistering 1:39.404.
The Renault driver's time was a staggering 0.774s up on Jenson Button's best while his Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello was third quickest.
Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean finished in 13th place, Luca Badoer 18th and Jaime Alguersuari 19th. As for Lewis Hamilton, he was P20 after a minor coming together with the barriers ended his session.
Report: Sweltering conditions and a track temperature of 44'C greeted the drivers as Sebastien Buemi, Nico Rosberg and Jaime Alguersuari led out the field for their installation laps. While most pitted after one lap, Buemi stayed out to set the afternoon's first time, a 1:43.726 and was quickly joined by others. Mark Webber went second, Alguersuari third and Luca Badoer fourth. The timesheets changed, though, as Lewis Hamilton went quickest with a 1:43.214. Fernando Alonso took fourth place with Heikki Kovalainen seventh and Kazuki Nakajima eighth.
Hamilton put his McLaren into a spin and stopped facing the wrong way, not the greatest feeling as one of the Toro Rosso's came speeding past him. The Brit, however, quickly through another spin to face the right way and continued lapping. Meanwhile, Alonso overhauled his time by half a second to go fastest. Kovalainen went second with Adrian Sutil putting in another great lap to take third place. His team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella went fifth only to be dropped by Jenson Button.
Buemi moved up to second place, Rubens Barrichello took ninth and Romain Grosjean tenth as the French racer continued to impress in his debut outing. Nico Rosberg slotted in to second place, 0.449s off Alonso's best, with Barrichello behind him in third. Grosjean also found some pace, taking eighth place, less than a second off Alonso's time. Nakajima moved up to the order, going third behind his team-mate, who had closed the gap to less than a tenth to Alonso. Webber climbed to third.
At the back of the pack, Badoer continued to battle for pace, 3.8s slower than the lead driver. Not a great start to the Ferrari man's first weekend as a Scuderia driver. His team-mate Kimi Raikkonen improved to fifth place while moments later Badoer left the bottom of the timesheets to take P19. Barrichello moved into the top three before he was overhauled by Sutil.
Meanwhile, Hamilton was left sitting in his garage after it emerged that he had damaged his car during his earlier spin. The McLaren driver actually broke a piece, a 'hanger' off the front of his car.
Rosberg took the P1 slot off Alonso while his team-mate Nakajima went second quickest. Jenson Button moved up to eighth place moments before Heidfeld took 13th. The BMW driver's rise up the order meant that once again Badoer was slowest of all. Vettel climbed to second place, 0.039s off the pace.
Button was the next to lead the way as the Championship leader clocked a 1:41.534 to edge Rosberg by 0.054s. Barrichello went third while Alonso improved his time but stayed sixth. Heidfeld shot up the order, moving into second place, 0.046s off the pace. But he was soon dropped as Rosberg went quickest. Buemi moved up to fifth place while Kubica took 11th. Alonso resumed his place at the top of the timesheets with a 1:41.324.
Button and Barrichello moved up into the 1-2 with Jarno Trulli taking third. However, the Brawn duo soon swapped over as Barrichello outpaced his team-mate. Raikkonen went from 12th to fifth while Kovalainen moved up from 18th to 11th. Alonso returned to the front as the Spaniard continued to impress at home. Heidfeld took the long way around, running wide and using the run-off to get back to the track.
Glock climbed to fifth place ahead of Kubica before moving up one position more as he overhauled his team-mate Trulli. Badoer improved to 18th place, leaving Alguersuari and Hamilton in his wake.
Problems for Alonso and Heidfeld as the two parties came together at the final corner with Heidfeld's BMW actually being launched into the air before landing heavily. Damage as well to Alonso's Renault, which appeared to lock up as his braked, causing him to hit Heidfeld.
Nakajima went quickest with Trulli taking third place and Raikkonen seventh. Barrichello was the next to lead the way, Rosberg going second, Button third and then second, Kovalainen went sixth.
Alonso, back on track with a new front wing, put in three fastest sector times on his way to a 1:39.404 which put him quickest. Button went second, 0.774s behind.
Times
01 F. Alonso Renault 1:39.404 33 laps
02 J. Button Brawn GP 1:40.178 33 laps
03 R. Barrichello Brawn GP 1:40.209 34 laps
04 N. Rosberg Williams 1:40.385 39 laps
05 K. Nakajima Williams 1:40.503 35 laps
06 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:40.596 23 laps
07 R. Kubica BMW 1:40.643 34 laps
08 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:40.681 31 laps
09 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:40.723 33 laps
10 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:40.738 31 laps
11 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:40.739 39 laps
12 J. Trulli Toyota 1:40.770 32 laps
13 R. Grosjean Renault 1:40.787 35 laps
14 M. Webber Red Bull 1:40.956 37 laps
15 T. Glock Toyota 1:40.985 30 laps
16 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:41.156 34 laps
17 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:41.350 29 laps
18 L. Badoer Ferrari 1:42.017 37 laps
19 J. Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:42.089 34 laps
20 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:43.214 3 laps
Source : Planet F1
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