Adrian Sutil first best time

The season kicks off, Jarno Trulli (Lotus) takes to the track, followed by the drivers Toro Rosso, Jaime Alguersuari and Sébastien Buemi, who are getting back into the habit of showing up quickly on the track. Many cars walk the circuit for the traditional installation lap, then return to their pits.

The cars which are not doing this installation round are the single-seaters which have not yet run this season, those of the Hispania Racing Team. Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok are champing at the bit while the mechanics continue to work on the cars.

The track being dirty, as at the start of every Grand Prix weekend, the drivers did not rush onto the track. We had to wait almost thirty minutes for Heikki Kovalainen, with his Lotus T127, to set the first times: 2:07??702 then 2:05??466.

The top teams finally send their cars onto the track and the times go down. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) greatly improves the times of the Lotus and drops below two minutes: 1?57??759. His teammate, Jenson Button, approached, a few minutes later, in 1:57:903. The British seemed above the rest for the first tests, before the other teams responded.

The pilots Ferrari et Mercedes then go into action. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) and Felipe Massa (Ferrari) are approaching the McLarens, while Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) is very close to beating the time of Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), in 1:57:766. Jenson Button then took the lead, in 1:57:068, before Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) does not drop below the next second, in 1?56??909.

If the top teams are there, Force India joins the fight and continues its linear progression, seen last season in the second half of the year. Adrian Sutil stood out by setting the best time of the session, in 1, before improving to 56 then 888.

The last minutes of the session offer little improvement in the time. However, Red Bull comes out of his reserve and Mark Webber sets the ninth time, in 1:57:255. For his part, Robert Kubica (Renault), is approaching the best times in 1:57:041.

While Bruno Senna (HRT) seems very, very struggling to maintain his car on track, Adrian Sutil (Force India) finished this first free practice session with the best time. He is finally ahead of Fernando Alonso (1) and Robert Kubica (56).