Lewis Hamilton sets the pace in India but is given three-place grid penalty

The Briton had waited until the last possible moment to lead the way in an eventful first free practice session for the Indian Grand Prix, but was caught out by the yellow flags - which were being waved for Pastor Maldonado's stationary Williams.

Red Bull looked to have made the perfect start to the weekend, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber having covered the first and second positions in the final moments, but that was until Hamilton's charging 1m26.836s lap put him top as the chequered flag fell.

The McLaren of Jenson Button was fourth fastest ahead of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg in the two Mercedes.

Perhaps appropriately it was Adrian Sutil's Force India that was the first Formula 1 car on track for the dry, sunny - and still dusty - opening session. He was followed out by the country's home-grown talent Karun Chandhok.

But no sooner had they got out on track than they were back in the pits again as the session was red-flagged to retrieve a stray dog that had wandered in to the action zone.

The track was made live again after five minutes and initially it was Chandhok, and his Indian rival Narian Karthekeyan who squabbled over the top spot. That was until Michael Schumacher came out and set a benchmark of 1m38.658s. A that mark was set to shrink by 12s before the end of the session.

Indeed Schumacher lopped four seconds off it himself just before the first half-hour was up.

Jaime Alguerusari moved to the top not long after Schumacher set that lap and would then spend the next 15 minutes improving his time as he fought off the attentions of Rosberg and his own Toro Rosso team-mate Sebastien Buemi.

Eventually Button emerged from the pit for a proper run at half distance moving the goalposts significantly with a 1m30.794s lap. This seemed to trigger a flurry of activity from the top men as Vettel also joined in. But the world champion's attempt was scuppered by a trip off-track at the Turn 5/Turn 6 section - something that would happen to several drivers as they learned the new layout.

Button remained top through the second half hour as several drivers joined the fray, but Fernando Alonso wasn't one of them. The Ferrari driver managing just four laps before he parked up off track, sidelined by an engine problem.

Hamilton moved to the top with 25 minutes to go lapping in 1m27.515s, as Vettel too moved ahead of Button. Webber's arrival in second then bumped the Englishman to fourth.

The last 15 minutes saw the Red Bulls move into familiar position as Webber kept his foot in to set a 1m27.428s, only to then watch the world champion steal his thunder with a 1m27.416s.

Things may have changed again, but a dramatic 10 minutes which saw Alguersuari thump the Turn 10 barrier with the rear of his Toro Rosso and engine problems for Pastor Maldonado render the circuit a yellow zone for much of it. Sergio Perez too made a run across the grass.

It was in the aftermath of all this, as the track finally cleared that Hamilton set his lap, with flags still apparently waving in the area of Maldonado's smoky Williams.

Behind the top six Felipe Massa was seventh fastest in the only operational Ferrari, sparking his way around the track with a new front wing. Sutil ended up eighth ahead of Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber.

Of the Indians in the field, Chandhok was 19th fastest for Lotus in the end, but was more than 1.6s off the pace of team-mate Jarno Trulli, while Karthikeyan was 22nd.

Pos  Driver                Team                   Time               Laps
01.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m26.836s    	       22
02.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m27.416s  + 0.580   23
03.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m27.428s  + 0.592   27
04.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m28.394s  + 1.558   23
05.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m28.531s  + 1.695   23
06.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m28.542s  + 1.706   29
07.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m28.644s  + 1.808   22
08.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1m28.705s  + 1.869   23
09.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m29.219s  + 2.383   24
10.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m29.355s  + 2.519   29
11.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m29.700s  + 2.864   24
12.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault                1m29.705s  + 2.869   22
13.  Bruno Senna           Renault                1m29.799s  + 2.963   20
14.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m30.132s  + 3.296   25
15.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1m30.367s  + 3.531   21
16.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m30.566s  + 3.730   19
17.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth      1m30.699s  + 3.833   22
18.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault          1m30.818s  + 3.982   22
19.  Karun Chandhok        Lotus-Renault          1m32.487s  + 5.651   24
20.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth           1m32.771s  + 5.935   24
21.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1m33.928s  + 7.092   27
22.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth        1m34.113s  + 7.277   30
23.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth        1m35.896s  + 8.960   19
24.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m35.899s  + 9.063    4

All Timing Unofficial