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Vettel leads first Abu Dhabi practice

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of Friday's first practice session in Abu Dhabi

The Yas Marina track was damp at the beginning, following a surprise downpour this morning.

Friday's first practice is usually an exercise in circuit cleaning and that was the case even more today thanks to the patches of damp, particulary in the shade of the unique circuit's bridges and trackside buildings.

Both McLaren and Red Bull spent time early on testing parts on their cars, with both having brought upgraded rear wings to the season finale. Mark Webber particularly spent laps early on assessing the wing with flow-vis paint on his RB6.

Everyone posted at least installation laps but few returned for much meaningful running until the last half hour - Lewis Hamilton, for example did not complete a timed lap until there were just 18 minutes left on the clock.

When the times did fall into the 1m43s, it was the Red Bulls of Webber and Vettel, and Hamilton's McLaren that set the pace.

All 24 cars were on the circuit at the end of the 90-minute session, by which time the circuit was in good enough condition for Vettel to break into the 1m42s.

That left him six tenths clear of Hamilton, with Jenson Button jumping up to third late on in the second McLaren. Webber finished up fourth, ahead of Robert Kubica's Renault and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.

Michael Schumacher, Kamui Kobayashi, Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld completed the top 10.

The session passed without any major incidents. Several cars had trips off the damp track early on, but Fairuz Fauzy (Lotus) was the only one to spin. Rubens Barrichello's Williams stopped on his way back to the pits after the chequered flag.

Pos  Driver              Car                   Time       Gap       Laps
 1.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m42.760s            18
 2.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m43.369s  + 0.609s  16
 3.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m43.785s  + 1.025s  19
 4.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m43.840s  + 1.080s  19
 5.  Robert Kubica       Renault               1m44.080s  + 1.320s  19
 6.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m44.121s  + 1.361s  17
 7.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m44.199s  + 1.439s  19
 8.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m44.604s  + 1.844s  18
 9.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m44.718s  + 1.958s  19
10.  Nick Heidfeld       Sauber-Ferrari        1m44.737s  + 1.977s  19
11.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m45.160s  + 2.400s  18
12.  Vitaly Petrov       Renault               1m45.445s  + 2.685s  21
13.  Rubens Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth     1m45.474s  + 2.714s  15
14.  Adrian Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  1m45.552s  + 2.792s  20
15.  Tonio Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes  1m45.585s  + 2.825s  14
16.  Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m46.003s  + 3.243s  20
17.  Nico Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth     1m46.644s  + 3.884s  19
18.  Sebastien Buemi     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m47.105s  + 4.345s  22
19.  Timo Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1m48.450s  + 5.690s  19
20.  Jarno Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth        1m48.472s  + 5.712s  17
21.  Lucas di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth       1m49.375s  + 6.615s  13
22.  Bruno Senna         Hispania-Cosworth     1m49.590s  + 6.830s  18
23.  Christian Klien     Hispania-Cosworth     1m50.274s  + 7.514s  17
24.  Fairuz Fauzy        Lotus-Cosworth        1m51.705s  + 8.945s  18

All timing unofficial

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