Prac One: Hamilton blitzes the competition

Lewis Hamilton set a blistering pace around the Istanbul Otodrom on Friday morning, almost a full second up on his nearest rival

With McLaren's f-duct and revised front wing in action, Hamilton crossed the line with a 1:28.653, to beat his team-mate Jenson Button by 0.962.

And although Mercedes GP tried to take the charge to McLaren, using their longer wheelbase car, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg fell short, both over a second adrift of Hamilton's impressive lap time.

Red Bull and Renault were next in line with Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica having the edge over their respective team-mates.

Report: A nice warm start to the Turkish GP with the track temperature sitting at 28'C as the first of Friday's two practice session got underway at the Istanbul Otodrom. The temperature and design of the track mean tyre wear could be high with Bridgestone predicting that some could suffer with severe graining.

The drivers were quickly out on track for their installation laps with Hispania test driver Sakon Yamamoto the only change to the usual 24 drivers. It was a strange start, though, as some drivers such as Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg and Lucas di Grassi completed as many as five laps without even setting a time.

Yamamoto set the first time of the session, a 1:38.785, shaving almost two seconds off over the next few laps. More drivers finally ventured out after the first half an hour had lapsed with Jaime Alguersuari taking the P1 slot ahead of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli. Karun Chandhok ventured out for his first run but immediately ran into problems with his car slowly touring the track at 33kph. He was, however, able to return to the pits.

Vettel hit the front of the timesheets with a 1:31.718 while Schumacher, using Merc's long wheelbase car, went quicker through the first two sectors before once again pitting. It was his seventh lap without a time. Vettel went quicker still, lowering the benchmark to a 1:30.840.

Halfway through the session on a very dirty track, Vitaly Petrov was second ahead of Mark Webber, Alguersuari, Kovalainen, Nico Hulkenberg, Jarno Trulli and Rubens Barrichello.

With the track getting cleaner with each run, Robert Kubica joined the action, going quickest while Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton slotted in behind Vettel. Felipe Massa was fifth.

Webber improved to third place ahead of the McLarens before Hamilton overhauled the entire field, going P1 with a 1:29.672. Schumacher, running a bit wide at the final corner, climbed to second place before being dropped as Button went fastest.

With the front runners all putting in the laps, the timesheets continued to change although McLaren remained P1 and P2, now with Hamilton leading Button. Behind the McLarens and Schumacher, raged the battle for fourth with the two Red Bulls and Renaults swapping positions.
With twenty minutes remaining, Rosberg joined Schumacher in the battle against the McLarens taking third place. However, he was still a full second slower than Hamilton. Fernando Alonso finally put his Ferrari into the top ten, taking ninth place while his team-mate Felipe Massa failed to improve on his P12.

The final five minutes saw Schumacher overhaul Rosberg before Adrian Sutil brought out the yellow flags as he put his Force India into the wall at Turn Eight, causing considerable damage to the car.

The session ended with Hamilton quickest ahead of Button and Schumacher.

Times:

01. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.653 20 laps
02. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:29.615 + 0.962 20 laps
03. Schumacher Mercedes 1:29.750 + 1.097 24 laps
04. Rosberg Mercedes 1:29.855 + 1.202 24 laps
05. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:29.867 + 1.214 30 laps
06. Kubica Renault 1:30.061 + 1.408 23 laps
07. Petrov Renault 1:30.065 + 1.412 24 laps
08. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:30.097 + 1.444 26 laps
09. Alonso Ferrari 1:30.294 + 1.641 20 laps
10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:30.501 + 1.848 17 laps
11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:30.615 + 1.962 20 laps
12. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:30.853 + 2.200 21 laps
13. Massa Ferrari 1:30.867 + 2.214 21 laps
14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:31.011 + 2.358 23 laps
15. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:31.238 + 2.585 17 laps
16. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:31.355 + 2.702 23 laps
17. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:31.464 + 2.811 19 laps
18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:31.735 + 3.082 27 laps
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:32.161 + 3.508 24 laps
20. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:32.990 + 4.337 22 laps
21. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:34.876 + 6.223 13 laps
22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:35.137 + 6.484 21 laps
23. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:35.583 + 6.930 15 laps
24. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:36.137 + 7.484 26 laps

Source: Planet-F1