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Rosberg sets practice pace in Turkey

Nico Rosberg did it again in first practice for the Turkish Grand Prix as the Williams driver went fastest in the dying moments of the session

The German, who has set the pace ten times in practice sessions this year, beat world champion Lewis Hamilton with a last-gasp lap after the McLaren man had occupied the top spot for much of practice.

With the track extremely dirty early on - so much so that plumes of dust were thrown up by the cars on their installation laps - it was a long time before anyone set a time.

When they did, more than 30 minutes into the 90, it was Hamilton that laid down a marker with a 1m33.992s lap. But that circulation featured an off at the first corner -a regular feature in the first sessionb - and the Briton subsequently improved to a 1m32.205s on his next tour.

Several drivers joined the McLaren on the bumpy and green circuit, and thus many men also swiftly left the track unprompted at various points, though all rejoined.

Jarno Trulli showed Toyota's potential in Turkey when he went fastest at the halfway stage, but he was quickly bumped down the order by Kazuki Nakajima in the other Williams.

The Japanese Williams driver stayed on top for all of five minutes before the Felipe Massa moved to the top in the Ferrari. But he too was swept aside, first by Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull and then again Hamilton.

With just 18 minutes of the session to go, Massa was seeking to retake the top position when he ran wide on the exit of Turn 1, just as has several other drivers had done previously, and ripped up some of the AstroTurf lining the kerbs. This caused the session to be stopped while repairs were made.

The stoppage triggered a late rush that saw Hamilton improve his time to 1m29.263s. But it wasn't enough, as Rosberg did his usual trick and waited until the very last moment to go fastest with a 1m28.952s.

Trulli ended up third ahead of Vettel, with Massa fifth and Nakajima sixth. Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello and Heikki Kovalainen completed the top ten. World championship leader Jenson Button was 11th.

Of the several spinners, Timo Glock, Giancarlo Fisichella, Massa and Vettel were notable, while many other drivers ran wide at the hot spot points of Turns 1, 4 and 8.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:28.952            24
 2.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:29.263  + 0.311   23
 3.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:29.271  + 0.319   26
 4.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:29.337  + 0.385   17
 5.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:29.342  + 0.390   22
 6.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:29.371  + 0.419   21
 7.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:29.398  + 0.446   24
 8.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:29.422  + 0.470   24
 9.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:29.525  + 0.573   24
10.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:29.590  + 0.638   19
11.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:29.747  + 0.795   20
12.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:29.864  + 0.912   21
13.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:29.934  + 0.982   25
14.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:30.132  + 1.180   18
15.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:30.176  + 1.224   21
16.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:30.645  + 1.693   22
17.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:30.689  + 1.737   19
18.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:30.729  + 1.777   22
19.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:30.838  + 1.886   24
20.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:30.944  + 1.992   25

All Timing Unofficial

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