Alonso tops Friday practice in Valencia

Local favorite Fernando Alonso was the first to leave the pits, some minutes after the light went green.

He immediately started a five-lap run and posted a fastest 1’40’’850 on the board. His teammate Felipe Massa joined him at the front and demoted him to P2. Hamilton then Button took over at the top, before Alonso upped the pace.

The Ferrari driver was the first to dip under the 1’40 barrier and was leading from Sutil and Button when he pitted at the end of this first run. Both Red Bull drivers and HRT’s Senna were yet to post a time at that point.

Webber moved up to P9 with his first effort and further improved in the following lap to move up two places. Vettel’s first flying lap saw him move from P18 to P2. The German then found more pace to beat Alonso’s benchmark.

With just over an hour gone, Felipe Massa spun and stalled his Ferrari at Turn 5, leaving race control with no choice but to stop the session. The marshals quickly cleared the Brazilian’s F10 and the session resumed shortly after the incident.

At the halfway point, Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber managed to improve on Vettel’s fastest time. They relegated him to third but he stroke back and retook the lead with 1’39’’379.

Timo Glock had some mechanical problem in the second part of the session and was forced to stop his Virgin on the run down to Turn 12. With 31 minutes remaining, Alonso went slightly faster than Vettel.

The final part of the session saw no improvements at the top. Alonso ended with the fastest lap time. Vettel and Webber were second and third fastest for Red Bull. Rosberg and Hamilton completed the top five.