Alonso leads practice 1 - US GP
Fernando Alonso was comfortably fastest in Friday morning practice at Indianapolis, beating second-placed Nick Heidfeld by almost half a second
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton took third, seven tenths behind his teammate, with Robert Kubica's substitute Sebastian Vettel in fourth.
Hamilton had been the first of the major contenders to set a fast laptime, but his 1:13.143 was soon beaten by Alonso, albeit by only 0.016 seconds at first.
Alonso then repeatedly improved his time to establish a six tenths of a second margin over the competition, before Heidfeld put soft tyres on and closed to within 0.047 seconds of the top spot.
Then in the final minutes, Alonso tried the softs for himself and re-asserted his authority, ending the morning 0.466 seconds clear of Heidfeld, and 0.703 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who got alarmingly close to the wall through the banked final corner as he probed the limits of the circuit on his first visit.
Vettel was half a second slower than Heidfeld in fourth.
Ferrari again appear to be slightly off the leaders' pace, with Kimi Raikkonen a second away from Alonso in fifth, and Felipe Massa only seventh.
They were split by Nico Rosberg, who leapt up the order to sixth with a late flying lap.
David Coulthard, Jenson Button and Mark Webber completed the top ten.
The session saw relatively little incident, with Adrian Sutil's spin into the gravel in the last minute the most notable error. Both Toyotas, Heidfeld and Raikkonen also made brief trips off the road without damage or significant delay.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:11.925 16
2. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:12.391 + 0.466 24
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:12.628 + 0.703 21
4. Vettel BMW Sauber (B) 1:12.869 + 0.944 33
5. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:12.966 + 1.041 21
6. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:13.020 + 1.095 24
7. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:13.040 + 1.115 22
8. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:13.159 + 1.234 22
9. Button Honda (B) 1:13.597 + 1.672 23
10. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:13.682 + 1.757 26
11. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:13.777 + 1.852 32
12. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:13.786 + 1.861 27
13. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:13.819 + 1.894 27
14. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:13.907 + 1.982 28
15. Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:13.990 + 2.065 24
16. Fisichella Renault (B) 1:14.000 + 2.075 19
17. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:14.037 + 2.112 20
18. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:14.052 + 2.127 23
19. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:14.189 + 2.264 18
20. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:14.632 + 2.707 10
21. Albers Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:14.636 + 2.711 28
22. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:14.810 + 2.885 27
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