Fernando Alonso tops first morning session of F1 testing at Mugello

The times, however, mattered little on a day which started wet and dried throughout as the 11-strong field - missing only HRT - headed out.

Alonso's best, a 1m22.444s, was more than one second clear of red Bull's Mark Webber, the Australian running with an array of rear sensors as the Milton Keynes squad attempts to further understand the sidepod configuration it took to Bahrain.

Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne, who stopped out on circuit barely an hour in to bring out the first of two red flags, was third fastest, ahead of Jerome D'Ambrosio in the Lotus.

Nico Rosberg, cause of the second red flag when his Mercedes stopped at Turn 4 - at the same time as Alonso's F2012 halted at Turn 8 - was fifth, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and Oliver Turvey, the Briton deputising along with Gary Paffett for McLaren regulars Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

Force India's Jules Bianchi opted to sit out most of the morning due to the wet conditions, but managed to complete 18 laps in the dry. He ended eighth fastest ahead of Caterham's Rodolfo Gonzalez, Marussia's Charles Pic and Williams's Valtteri Bottas.

Morning times:

Pos  Driver                 Team                    Time     
 1.  Fernando Alonso        Ferrari                 1m22.444s
 2.  Mark Webber            Red Bull-Renault        1m23.648s  + 1.204s
 3.  Jean-Eric Vergne       Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m23.891s  + 1.447s
 4.  Jerome d'Ambrosio      Lotus-Renault           1m24.048s  + 1.604s
 5.  Nico Rosberg           Mercedes                1m24.100s  + 1.656s
 6.  Kamui Kobayashi        Sauber-Ferrari          1m24.736s  + 2.292s
 7.  Oliver Turvey          McLaren-Mercedes        1m25.303s  + 2.859s
 8.  Jules Bianchi          Force India-Mercedes    1m25.475s  + 3.031s
 9.  Rodolfo Gonzalez       Caterham-Renault        1m27.197s  + 4.753s
10.  Charles Pic            Marussia-Cosworth       1m27.359s  + 4.915s
11.  Valtteri Bottas        Williams-Renault        1m29.179s  + 6.735s

All Timing Unofficial