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Webber tops first practice in Germany

Red Bull continued its strong form from Silverstone in the opening practice session for the German Grand Prix, as Mark Webber set the fastest time at a chilly and overcast Nurburgring

Championship leader Jenson Button took second for Brawn GP, ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

But it was a tough session for Webber's team-mate Sebastian Vettel, whose car ground to a halt at the first corner after 10 laps. Although it was fixed in time for him to rejoin in the closing minutes, he was unable to improve on his eighth-fastest time in the single flying lap he managed.

Early drizzle meant it was approaching the halfway point of the session before the running started in earnest, with Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Nico Rosberg (Williams) getting embroiled in an early battle for superiority until Webber hit the front with a 1m34.444s lap after 46 minutes.

The Australian then repeatedly improved his time, edging clear whenever anyone closed in, to end the morning with a benchmark time of 1m33.082s, although he had set even better sector times on several laps near the end.

Button eventually got within 0.381s of Webber with a late improvement, while third placed Massa was 0.663s off the leader's pace.

Trulli ended the morning in fourth, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella, as Force India again displayed extremely impressive practice pace. The Italian had run as high as second earlier in the session.

While Fisichella shone, his team-mate Adrian Sutil spent most of the morning watching from the sidelines. His Force India appeared to lose drive on its seventh lap of the day, coming to a halt at the first corner a few minutes before his countryman Vettel did likewise. Unlike Vettel, Sutil was unable to get back out again.

Kimi Raikkonen made it two Ferraris in the top six, ahead of Rosberg, Vettel, Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) and Fernando Alonso (Renault).

It was a strange morning for Button's team-mate Rubens Barrichello. The Brazilian was slowest for much of the session, and then made several small errors when he came out for his final run, before eventually hauling himself up to 12th.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:33.082            19
 2.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:33.463  + 0.381   18
 3.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:33.745  + 0.663   21
 4.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:33.795  + 0.713   23
 5.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:33.839  + 0.757   26
 6.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:33.840  + 0.758   23
 7.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:33.902  + 0.820   26
 8.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:33.909  + 0.827   13
 9.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:33.952  + 0.870   25
10.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:34.148  + 1.066   16
11.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:34.221  + 1.139   25
12.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:34.227  + 1.145   17
13.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:34.483  + 1.401   14
14.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:34.694  + 1.612   23
15.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:34.738  + 1.656   24
16.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:34.827  + 1.745   27
17.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:34.878  + 1.796   28
18.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:34.893  + 1.811   26
19.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:34.911  + 1.829   23
20.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:35.092  + 2.010    6

All Timing Unofficial

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