Surprising Vettel tops Valencia practice

Felipe Massa had to settle for second for Ferrari, while Vettel's teammate Sebastien Bourdais continued the team's stunning morning by taking fourth between the two McLarens.

With the brand new circuit still extremely dusty, the times improved by a full nine seconds over the course of the session, and can be expected to get faster still this afternoon.

The major contenders left others to clean the circuit before beginning their work, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen the first of the usual front-runners to move to the top of the times after 28 minutes with a 1:43.948.

That mark was beaten by Hungaroring podium finisher Timo Glock (Toyota) shortly afterwards, although the German then had a spin at Turn 2 immediately after setting his time. Glock was then pushed down the order as the McLarens took charge of the session, with Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton taking it in turns to lead the way.

Raikkonen briefly restored Ferrari honour by deposing Hamilton just before the hour mark, only for Hamilton to strike back with two improved times five minutes later, before Kovalainen took another turn on top when he set a 1:41.163 with six minutes to go.

But just when it looked like McLaren would end the session with a one-two, Vettel produced a remarkable lap for Toro Rosso - his 1:40.813 taking him three tenths of a second clear of Kovalainen.

Hamilton responded but was 0.009 seconds slower on his first lap and then spun on his second. Massa fared better, beating Vettel's time by 0.159 seconds and leapt to the top of the standings in the final seconds.

Vettel wasn't finished yet though, and with his last lap of the morning the young German reclaimed first position with a superb 1:40.496 effort.

Behind Massa and Hamilton, Bourdais vaulted to fourth in the closing moments, ahead of Kovalainen, with Robert Kubica completing the top six for BMW and pushing Raikkonen back to seventh.

The two Williams took eighth and 10th - Kazuki Nakajima the faster of the two and Fernando Alonso (Renault) splitting them.

Unsurprisingly many drivers took trips over the run-off areas as they acclimatised to the circuit. Jarno Trulli emulated his teammate Glock's spin, but David Coulthard was the only man to hit the barriers, putting his Red Bull into the wall on his final run.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:40.496           29
 2.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:40.654 + 0.158   27
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:40.822 + 0.326   14
 4.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:41.099 + 0.603   31
 5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:41.163 + 0.667   23
 6.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:41.281 + 0.785   24
 7.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:41.317 + 0.821   27
 8.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:41.329 + 0.833   26
 9.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:41.385 + 0.889   31
10.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:41.706 + 1.210   22
11.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:41.830 + 1.334   27
12.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:41.930 + 1.434   27
13.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:41.951 + 1.455   23
14.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:42.036 + 1.540   27
15.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:42.107 + 1.611   32
16.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:42.453 + 1.957   23
17.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:42.460 + 1.964   29
19.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:43.075 + 2.579   25
19.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:43.312 + 2.816   23
20.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:43.524 + 3.028   24