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Vettel fastest in opening Japan practice

Red Bull lived up to its status as pre-race favourite in opening practice at a dry and sunny Suzuka, with last year's Japanese Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel leading team-mate Mark Webber in a comfortable one-two

But while two of the title contenders sat atop the times, another has already hit trouble, with Lewis Hamilton crashing heavily at Degner halfway through the session, costing the McLaren driver 45 minutes of track time on a day when the team has substantial upgrades to evaluate.

Hamilton's crash was a typical Degner incident, as he ran slightly wide at the first part of the fast, downhill double right-hander, then ploughed through the gravel at the second element and mangled the car's left front against the barriers.

The Briton had been quickest for a short time prior to the crash, but moments before he hit the wall, he was deposed by Vettel's 1m33.157s, half a second quicker than Hamilton's time - although the latter had set a new sector one benchmark on the lap that ended in the Degner wall.

Vettel would remain on top for the rest of the morning, raising his pace a few times to eventually reach a best of 1m32.585s. He maintained a half-second cushion over the field for a long while, before Webber closed to within 0.048 seconds.

Hamilton's time kept him in fifth place, behind impressive performances from Renault's Robert Kubica and Force India's Adrian Sutil, but Jenson Button was only 12th in the second McLaren - and came very close to replicating his team-mate's accident with two minutes to go. Button had a wild ride over the kerb between the Degners then slid sideways into the gravel, but caught the car before reaching the wall.

The other title contender Fernando Alonso had a low-key session, the Ferrari driver only 13th, two places behind his team-mate Felipe Massa.

Williams made a strong start to the weekend with sixth and seventh places for Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg, while Michael Schumacher was an encouraging eighth in the Mercedes. His team-mate Nico Rosberg was 10th despite only completing nine laps and spending the second half of the session in the garage with his car receiving attention.

The two Mercedes were split by Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, with his team-mate and home hero Kamui Kobayashi typically spectacular but only 14th.

Aside from the McLarens incidents, the only other notable excursion was a quick off at the hairpin by Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari.

Heikki Kovalainen was quickest among the new teams in his Lotus, 0.3s ahead of Virgin's Timo Glock, who was stuck in the garage for the first hour but was quick when his car was ready to take to the track. The team again ran Jerome d'Ambrosio in Lucas di Grassi's car, with the Belgian 0.4s behind Glock in 22nd.

Pos  Driver              Car                   Time       Gap       Laps
 1.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m32.585s            23
 2.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m32.633s  + 0.048s  23
 3.  Robert Kubica       Renault               1m33.129s  + 0.544s  23
 4.  Adrian Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  1m33.639s  + 1.054s  13
 5.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m33.643s  + 1.058s  9
 6.  Rubens Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth     1m33.677s  + 1.092s  21
 7.  Nico Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth     1m33.707s  + 1.122s  24
 8.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m33.739s  + 1.154s  20
 9.  Nick Heidfeld       Sauber-Ferrari        1m33.791s  + 1.206s  23
10.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m33.831s  + 1.246s  9
11.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m33.929s  + 1.344s  25
12.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m34.042s  + 1.457s  19
13.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m34.169s  + 1.584s  23
14.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m34.271s  + 1.686s  19
15.  Vitaly Petrov       Renault               1m34.373s  + 1.788s  24
16.  Vitantonio Liuzzi   Force India-Mercedes  1m34.379s  + 1.794s  21
17.  Sebastien Buemi     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m34.991s  + 2.406s  26
18.  Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m35.684s  + 3.099s  22
19.  Heikki Kovalainen   Lotus-Cosworth        1m36.949s  + 4.364s  25
20.  Timo Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1m37.329s  + 4.744s  17
21.  Jarno Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth        1m37.388s  + 4.803s  23
22.  Jerome D'Ambrosio   Virgin-Cosworth       1m37.778s  + 5.193s  23
23.  Bruno Senna         Hispania-Cosworth     1m38.814s  + 6.229s  28
24.  Sakon Yamamoto      Hispania-Cosworth     1m39.443s  + 6.858s  26

All timing unofficial

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