Toro Rosso youngster Sebastian Vettel sparked a surprise this morning in the first practice at the new Valencia Harbour Street Circuit. Sebastian was at the summit of the leaderboard from the off, trading lap times with his fellow teammate Sebastien Bourdais.
The grip levels weren't exactly ideal and many driver suffered 'moments,' many overshooting the delicate turn 2. However, as the session progressed, the quicker cars began to find the pace the 'Rosso's had been setting and the pair dropped down the board.
The usual top four were getting faster and faster as driver's confidence and knowledge of the circuit increased. With 15 minutes to go, Vettel exited the pits and joined Felipe Massa on an entertaining P1 battle.
Vettel went fastest with very little time left on the clock with a 1.40.813, but Massa was going quicker still and beat Vettel by 3 tenths with a 1.40.6. The chequered flag was waved and observers believed Felipe had taken P1 for this session.
A young German on the other side of the track had other ideas and was going even quicker. Vettel crossed the line as the last car round the track with a 1.40.496.
Although just a practice session, many were impressed by Vettel's confidence around a new circuit, and the fact that he'd beaten everyone in a Toro Rosso, by no means a bad car but not exactly points-every-race material either.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was likely to challenge for P1 toward the exciting end of the session, but he spun at turn 12 and subsequently pitted in.
The final standings for Practice 1 are as follows:
01 S. Vettel Toro Rosso 1:40.496 29 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:40.654 27 laps
03 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:40.822 21 laps
04 S. Bourdais Toro Rosso 1:41.099 31 laps
05 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:41.163 23 laps
06 R. Kubica BMW 1:41.281 24 laps
07 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:41.317 27 laps
08 K. Nakajima Williams 1:41.329 26 laps
09 F. Alonso Renault 1:41.385 31 laps
10 N. Rosberg Williams 1:41.706 22 laps
11 R. Barrichello Honda 1:41.830 27 laps
12 J. Trulli Toyota 1:41.930 27 laps
13 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:41.951 23 laps
14 T. Glock Toyota 1:42.036 27 laps
15 N. Piquet Jr. Renault 1:42.107 32 laps
16 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:42.453 23 laps
17 J. Button Honda 1:42.460 29 laps
18 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:43.075 25 laps
19 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:43.312 23 laps
20 M. Webber Red Bull 1:43.524 24 laps
The track itself has only certain characteristics resembling a full-on street circuit. It is extremely quick for a street race, with run off areas only on certain turns, as David Coulthard found out early in the session.
The vast majority of Formula One fans can't wait for qualifying tomorrow, and understandably so. This is shaping up to be a very interesting race weekend.
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