Red Bull duo dominate first practice

Webber had been in front for much of the morning, but a late charge from Vettel saw him slip ahead by 0.282 seconds.

The two Brawns took third and fourth, 0.8s down on Red Bull's pace, with Fernando Alonso completing the top five for Renault.

Unsurprisingly the session was overshadowed by the political storm erupting in the paddock following FOTA's announcement last night that its teams will start a breakaway championship in 2010. But with a race still going ahead as planned this weekend, the drivers proceeded with business as usual.

After a slow start to the session with few cars on track, the pace quickened considerably at the mid-way point, as Webber put in a 1m20.865s lap and was soon joined in a Red Bull one-two by Vettel, who was 0.3s slower.

Those positions stood for five minutes before Brawn's Rubens Barrichello briefly went ahead by a tenth and then Toyota's Jarno Trulli lapped in 1m20.585s to take the top spot with just over half an hour to go.

But Red Bull supremacy was restored shortly afterwards, with Webber producing first a 1m20.234s, then a 1m19.682s to cement his first position. Again he was chased by Vettel, although the second-placed German was 0.422s adrift.

While Webber settled for his 1m19.682s and spent the rest of the session on longer runs, Vettel came out for a final spurt. His initial lap looked set to be fastest before he encountered Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso in the complex, but he made up for it next around with a 1m19.400s to take the top spot in the final minute.

Championship leader Jenson Button moved up to third late on, 0.015s ahead of team-mate Barrichello but 0.827s slower than Vettel.

Felipe Massa was sixth in the best of the Ferraris, followed by Trulli and Lewis Hamilton, with both McLarens running aerodynamic analysis paint on their front wings this morning.

Williams's Nico Rosberg was only ninth this time, while Force India showed promising form with 10th and 11th places.

Renault's Nelson Piquet provided the first major incident of the weekend when he had a high-speed spin at Copse, continuing with damage.

Timo Glock also went off the road, spinning his Toyota at Club, but likewise escaped unscathed, as did his team-mate Trulli when the Italian had an excursion at Becketts on his last lap.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:19.400            20
 2.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:19.682  + 0.282   19
 3.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:20.227  + 0.827   20
 4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:20.242  + 0.842   29
 5.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:20.458  + 1.058   26
 6.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:20.471  + 1.071   23
 7.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:20.585  + 1.185   32
 8.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:20.650  + 1.250   26
 9.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:20.815  + 1.415   32
10.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:20.838  + 1.438   25
11.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:20.913  + 1.513   22
12.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:21.029  + 1.629   22
13.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:21.103  + 1.703   24
14.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:21.179  + 1.779   27
15.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:21.384  + 1.984   23
16.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:21.386  + 1.986   32
17.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:21.489  + 2.089   26
18.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:21.525  + 2.125   30
19.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:21.590  + 2.190   37
20.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:21.801  + 2.401   16

All Timing Unofficial