Hamilton posted a 1:21.134 to finish over half a second ahead of his team-mate Jenson Button as McLaren laid down the gaunlet at Fernando Alonso's home track. The Spaniard, though, was not able to respond, bringing his Ferrari home in eighth place, 1.124s off the pace. But it was Schumacher who caught the eye in what many are billing as a do-or-die weekend for the seven-time World Champ. Armed with Mercedes GP's radical updates, which have reportedly been introduced in a bid to change the car to suit Schumacher's style, the German finally got the better of his team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Schumacher finished Practice One in third place, 0.582s off the pace, while Rosberg could only manage sixth place. The session marked only the third time this season that Schumacher has been the lead Merc GP driver, although it should be noted that he's only beaten Rosberg in practice sessions.
Report: Practice got underway with the usual spate of installation laps in chilly conditions, with the track temperature just 15'C and a few clouds overhead. Rain is forecast for later today. Fernando Alonso, sans his subliminal barcode, ventured out to great applause from the crowd packed into the grandstands before Michael Schumacher, who has a radically updated car with a new engine cover that has the airbox inlets situated quite far back on the car, a longer wheelbase and a new chassis, headed out for his lap.
Timo Glock set the morning's first lap time, a 1:34.777 for the Virgin Racing driver. His time was quickly - and soundly - beaten by Felipe Massa, who clocked a 1:23.536, putting his f-duct to good use after a few helpful hints from his race engineer Rob Smedley. Newly-appointed HRT third driver Christian Klien was 15s down on his first lap. Klien shaved five seconds off his time on his next lap while Massa lowered the benchmark by 2/10ths
Jaime Alguersuari, Heikki Kovalainen and Bruno Senna joined the action, going second, third and fourth respectively. Jarno Trulli took second place for Lotus before being dropped by Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi and Alguersuari. After half-an-hour, Massa was the only big-name driver to have set a time and was comfortably quicker than the lower order drivers.
Kobayashi hit the front of the pack, clocking a 1:23.190 in his Sauber while Vitaly Petrov claimed third place ahead of Mark Webber. That, though, didn't last long as Webber went quickest. Seconds later, though, it was Kobayashi who was again on top with Petrov third ahead of Massa, Alguersuari, Paul di Resta, Trulli and Klien.
Given the amount of time spent testing here in the pre-season, halfway through the session only half the field had actually posted a lap time.
Sebastian Vettel finally ventured out, taking first place with a 1:22.422. The German soon lost out to his Red Bull team-mate before taking the position back while more drivers decided that it was time to join the party. One of those drivers was Schumacher, who took fifth place, 0.701s down on Vettel with Jenson Button slotting in behind him and ahead of Robert Kubica.
Schumacher continued lapping, quickest in the first sector and the second. The seven-time World Champ went P1 with a 1:21.716. Lewis Hamilton moved up to fourth place, fastest in the final sector, before Button took second. The reigning World Champ then improved to first, 0.044s up on Schumacher. Hamilton overhauled them both, 0.342s quicker than Button.
Alonso headed out for his first timed lap, taking tenth place, 1.4s down on Hamilton. And although the Spaniard improved his time, the gap between himself and Hamilton remained the same as the latter also shaved tenths off, clocking two fastest sector times in the process. Alonso continued lapping, moving up to seventh place ahead of Nico Rosberg.
With 30 minutes left on the clock, Pedro de la Rosa was the only driver yet to have set a time as his Sauber mechanics worked on his gearbox. Not the best start to the Spaniard's home race.
Nico Rosberg moved up to sixth place, but still trailed his Merc GP team-mate Schumacher by 4/10ths of a second while at the back of the pack, Trulli led the battle of the newcomers ahead of Glock, Klien, Lucas di Grassi, Senna and Kovalainen.
Button headed back into the pits after running over a large piece of discarded bodywork which caused some damage to his car. Meanwhile, Hulkenberg came to a stop out on track with puffs of smoke coming from the back of his Williams.
The session ended with Hamilton quickest, Button second and Schumacher in third place.
Times:
01. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.134 21 laps
02. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.672 + 0.538 14 laps
03. Schumacher Mercedes 1:21.716 + 0.582 12 laps
04. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:22.011 + 0.877 27 laps
05. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:22.026 + 0.892 22 laps
06. Rosberg Mercedes 1:22.070 + 0.936 19 laps
07. Kubica Renault 1:22.202 + 1.068 22 laps
08. Alonso Ferrari 1:22.258 + 1.124 19 laps
09. Petrov Renault 1:22.397 + 1.263 23 laps
10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.492 + 1.358 26 laps
11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:22.588 + 1.454 24 laps
12. Massa Ferrari 1:22.975 + 1.841 22 laps
13. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:23.030 + 1.896 21 laps
14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.110 + 1.976 31 laps
15. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:23.284 + 2.150 19 laps
16. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:23.312 + 2.178 22 laps
17. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:23.471 + 2.337 20 laps
18. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:25.329 + 4.195 17 laps
19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:26.244 + 5.110 20 laps
20. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:26.340 + 5.206 23 laps
21. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:26.694 + 5.560 24 laps
22. Klien HRT-Cosworth 1:27.250 + 6.116 26 laps
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:27.752 + 6.618 27 laps
24. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari No time 3 laps
Source: Planet-F1
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