Hamilton fastest in Indian GP opening practice

The Formula One field got his very first taste of the Buddh International Circuit on Friday morning.

The first 90-minute practice session got to a bit of a false start as it had to be stopped after about five minutes. A stray dog had made his way on to the track. The action restarted five minutes later and the cars came out to complete important laps of the brand new circuit.

As expected, the track was very dusty at first and the grip pretty low – which caused some drivers to run wide.

Michael Schumacher set the early pace and was joined at the front, around the midway point, by Jenson Button. The Briton’s teammate also made his way up the leader board and went top of the pile with just under 30 minutes remaining.

As is usually the case, the Red Bulls started cautiously and slowly gathered pace. Twenty minutes to the chequered flag, Webber was up to 2nd with his teammate right behind in 3rd place. They kept pushing and both jumped Hamilton. With fifteen minutes left, Vettel was leading from Webber, Hamilton, Button and Schumacher.

Jaime Alguersuari was a casualty of the track conditions as he lost control of his Toro Rosso at the exit of Turn 9 towards the end of the session. The rear of his car made light contact with the barrier and was slightly damaged.

Seconds later, troubles hit Williams’ Maldonado. An engine failure put an end to his session.

The yellow flags were still being waved for the final minutes, preventing most of the drivers from improving their lap times. Lewis Hamilton, however, managed to improve and completed the session on top.

He was five tenths of a second faster than Vettel and Webber. His teammate Button was fourth ahead of Schumacher, Rosberg and Massa.

Fernando Alonso lost valuable track time and could only complete four laps before an engine problem forced him to park his Ferrari.