Fernando Alonso believes Charles Pic could potentially have cost him a shot at victory in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix after ignoring blue flags during the race.

The Marussia driver was given a penalty for having not let Alonso through quickly enough, the Spaniard losing valuable time in his fight for the lead with Pastor Maldonado.

Alonso finished the race three seconds behind the Williams driver and admitted he was unimpressed with Pic. Although he acknowledged that Maldonado and Williams were ultimately faster, he hoped Pic's penalty would act as a warning to backmarkers.

"We were a little bit unlucky," said Alonso. "We had a Marussia that got a penalty, which is obviously not a solution now, but hopefully people will start to understand that they need to respect the rules and today they didn't and they got a penalty, but maybe not enough for the penalty which could have cost us a victory."

The Ferrari driver, whose team had big hopes of taking a step forward in Spain thanks to the upgrades introduced, admitted he was surprised to be so strong all weekend.

Alonso now shares the championship lead with Sebastian Vettel, and believes that he has flattered his car so far.

"Definitely we are a little bit surprised by the quantity of the points we have and surprised by the weekend result," Alonso said. "We were confident to improve the car, we were hoping for some signs of improvement here in Barcelona and in Bahrain we were out of Q3 and in race, P9 one minute behind the leaders.

"So we arrived here with optimism about the upgrades but the overall weekend pace has been better than expected because we were quick in qualifying and quick in the race.

"But this, how I feel after the weekend, I still don't know where we are. We need to wait for more races for the championship to stabilise a bit. I think we overperform for the car we have and maybe other cars underperform a little. It is very strange, as we saw this weekend."

Despite the strong showing, the two-time champion is refusing to believe Ferrari has a car capable of winning everywhere yet.

"We'll see," he said when asked if Ferrari had turned the corner. "When we are first and second in one qualifying and first and second in the championship then we will have the best car. Consistency and ability to develop is important because two tenths can be six or seven positions.

"But what we can say is we had the most difficult start to the championship with a car that was not competitive at all, and after one quarter of the championship we are leading with Vettel, so we have to be proud of our position. Maybe not so proud of the competitive package we have but we are working on that."

Pastor Maldonado scored his maiden Formula 1 win and ended a Williams victory drought dating back to the end of the 2004 season as the Venezuelan defeated local hero Fernando Alonso's Ferrari in an absorbing Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona's Catalunya track.

The Williams and Ferrari were absolutely together going into the final laps, but the superbly composed Maldonado was able to edge away and secure victory, leaving Alonso to fend off Kimi Raikkonen's flying Lotus for second.

Alonso had taken the lead at the start by beating Maldonado into the first corner, and then inched into a three-second lead during the first stint, as they pulled clear of the rest of the field.

But the combination of a stunning out-lap by Maldonado and Alonso getting stuck behind Charles Pic's Marussia on his in-lap saw the Williams leapfrog the Ferrari at the second pitstops, and then storm away for a few laps until 7s clear.

Alonso then started coming back at Maldonado, getting the gap down to 4.2s before the Williams had a slightly slow final pitstop with a left-rear issue. A few laps behind Raikkonen, who was running much further before his final pitstop, meant the leaders were absolutely nose to tail going into the closing laps as both tried to keep their tyres intact.

For a while it looked inevitable that Maldonado would succumb to Alonso's pressure, but it was the Ferrari that started to lose pace in the final stages, and the lead gap began to increase again - allowing Maldonado to take a very unexpected victory by 3.1 seconds.

Raikkonen's fresher tyres allowed him to gain on the leaders at a ferocious rate as the race neared its end, but he ran out of time to catch Alonso, finishing six tenths of a second adrift.

Romain Grosjean finished fourth in the other Lotus, with Kamui Kobayashi pulling off some characteristically bold passes on the way to fifth for Sauber.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel produced a late charge to take sixth after losing ground with a drive-through penalty for failing to heed yellow flags and requiring a new front wing at his final pitstop.

Nico Rosberg's Mercedes and both McLarens fell victim to Vettel's surge up the order, with Rosberg then fending off last-place starter Lewis Hamilton for seventh as the Briton managed to make a two-stop strategy work against expectations. His team-mate Jenson Button struggled for pace all day and finished ninth.

Force India's Nico Hulkenberg resisted huge pressure from Mark Webber, who lost ground on lap one and needed an out-of-sequence pitstop for a new front wing.

Behind the Toro Rossos and the second Force India of Paul di Resta, Felipe Massa had another bad race for Ferrari. Penalised for a yellow flag infringement, he finished only 15th.

Retirements included Michael Schumacher and Bruno Senna, who tangled at Turn 1 when the fresh-tyre-shod Mercedes ran into the back of the yet-to-pit Williams, and Sergio Perez. The Sauber picked up a puncture while trying to attack the Lotus pair at the first corner, and later parked just after a messy pitstop.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Spanish Grand Prix
Catalunya, Turkey;
66 laps; 307.104km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Maldonado Williams-Renault 1h39:09.145
2. Alonso Ferrari + 3.195
3. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 3.884
4. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 14.799
5. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:14.641
6. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 1:17.576
7. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:27.919
8. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 1:28.100
9. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1:25.200
10. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
11. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 1 lap
12. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
13. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
14. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
15. Massa Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
19. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps

Fastest lap: Grosjean, 1:26.250

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 38
Pic Marussia-Cosworth 36
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 23
Senna Williams-Renault 13
Schumacher Mercedes 13


World Championship standings, round 5:

Drivers:
1. Vettel 61
2. Alonso 61
3. Hamilton 53
4. Raikkonen 49
5. Webber 48
6. Button 45
7. Rosberg 41
8. Grosjean 35
9. Maldonado 29
10. Perez 22
11. Kobayashi 19
12. Di Resta 15
13. Senna 14
14. Vergne 4
15. Hulkenberg 3
16. Schumacher 2
17. Massa 2
18. Ricciardo 2

All timing unofficial

Pastor Maldonado will start from pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying for not returning to the pits after setting his best lap.

Hamilton's McLaren was found to not have had enough fuel on board to comply with the rules that demand a car returns to the pits under its own power after qualifying with enough petrol for a one-litre sample to be provided to the FIA.

Only under circumstances of 'force majeure' are drivers allowed to stop on that slowing down lap - and stopping deliberately because there is not enough fuel to finish the tour and supply that sample is not acceptable.

Following a meeting with the stewards at the Spanish Grand Prix, McLaren was informed that the 'technical' problem that it suggested was the reason for Hamilton being told to stop was not enough grounds to justify its action.

The team explained that not enough fuel had been put into the car ahead of the final qualifying lap - which the FIA did not agree was enough reason for 'force majeure'

As a result, the stewards ruled that Hamilton be excluded from qualifying, but would be allowed to start from the back of the grid.

"The stewards received a report from the Race Director which stated that during post-qualifying scrutineering a sample of fuel was required from car 4, however, the car failed to return to the pits under its own power as required under Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations," said the stewards in a statement.

"The Stewards heard from the team representative Mr Sam Michael who stated that the car stopped on the circuit for reasons of force majeure. A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount for sampling purposes.

"As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the Competitor the Stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure.

"The Stewards determine that this is a breach of Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations and the Competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the Qualifying Session. The Competitor is however allowed to start the race from the back of the grid."

The result means that Maldonado will start ahead of Fernando Alonso for Sunday's race.

Speaking before being informed of the penalty, Hamilton reckoned that in the event of a penalty he could still deliver good race pace.

"Looking at our long runs, I think our long runs were not too bad," he said. "The option tyre was not spectacular with the set-up we had, but we have made some changes so it should be better in that sense.

"The long run on the prime was very good, but then again so was it with the guys just behind me. Overtaking here is very, very tough as it has showed in previous years, but we do have DRS.

"I would hope we can overtake but I would doubt it – but I would do everything I could to move forwards.

"Definitely the guy in front, the top two or three, generally have an easier job because they have a lot clearer air. But we will give it our all and we hope with improved pit stops as well we hope we can make steps forward."

Revised Spanish GP grid:

1. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault
4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault
5. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes
7. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes
9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari
10. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
11. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes
13. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes
14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari
15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16. Felipe Massa Ferrari
17. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault
18. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault
20. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth
22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth
24. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes

Qualifying third for the Spanish Grand Prix is proof that Ferrari is heading in the right direction, according to Fernando Alonso.

Having already stated that the Spanish race was a crucial one for the squad, Alonso made the qualifying session count, comfortably making it into Q3 before locking down a second row start for tomorrow's race.

"Thanks to the updates we took a step forward in right direction," said Alonso.

"Now we arrive to Q3 in a more comfortable way, and in Q3 the level is good. If I had 100 more tyres I would do same time, so [there is no] more time left.

"For us it was impossible even to dream about being in the top three in the first four races. We were arriving in Q3 with no new sets [of tyres] left, so that is a step forward.

"I think P3 is over performing what we can do at the moment, but I am happy. There is much more to come."

Alonso also said that tomorrow's race will be a golden opportunity for Ferrari to steal some points from the likes of Red Bull Racing, which struggled in qualifying.

"The points are given tomorrow, not today," he added.

"We did as much as we could today we are happy to start in much better position than we did in the previous grand prix. But we need the points tomorrow. These positions are mixed a little bit, with some of the people in front [of us in] the championship starting at the back tomorrow.

"So we need to take [advantage] of this good position today and score more points than them."

Team-mate Felipe Massa qualified in 17th position.

Lewis Hamilton and McLaren took pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix by a commanding margin over shock front row man Pastor Maldonado's Williams.

In a session full of surprises, Hamilton was half a second quicker than Maldonado, who had been rapid in final practice, topped Q2, and then held provisional pole for a while.

Hamilton was the only frontrunner to do two runs in Q3, and his initial benchmark stood until first local hero Fernando Alonso in the much improved Ferrari, then the incredible Maldonado beat him.

But there was still more to come from Hamilton, who produced a 1m21.707s to give McLaren its 150th Formula 1 pole. The Briton then stopped on track on his slowing-down lap.

Just behind Maldonado, Alonso held second ahead of Lotus team-mates Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, who again proved extremely competitive.

Both Saubers made it into Q3, with Sergio Perez going on to take sixth, but Kamui Kobayashi consigned to 10th as his car expired on the way back to the pits at the end of Q2.

Nico Rosberg was seventh after just one early run in Q3, while both Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Rosberg's Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher chose to save tyres and not doing any flying laps in Q3, so qualified eighth and ninth.

The presence of the underdogs in the top 10 inevitably meant some big names were squeezed out in Q2, and it was Jenson Button - who had been uncomfortable with the McLaren's handling all day - and Mark Webber who found themselves on the wrong side of the cut-off. The McLaren and Red Bull will share row six, double Catalunya polesitter Webber having been sat in the pits at the end of the session as others improved and pushed him backwards.

It was a bad day for Felipe Massa as well, the Ferrari driver registering his worst grid position so far in this already-disappointing season as he qualified behind the Force Indias and Toro Rossos in 17th.

While Maldonado stormed towards the front, his Williams team-mate Bruno Senna pushed too hard in his efforts to keep up - spinning into the gravel at the end of Q1 and ensuring an instant exit.

Vitaly Petrov outqualified Caterham team-mate Heikki Kovalainen for the first time as the back-of-the-grid teams lined up in the usual order. Charles Pic was quicker than fellow Marussia man Timo Glock, and HRT's Narain Karthikeyan will needs stewards' permission to race as apparent mechanical issues left him a long way from the 107 per cent margin.

Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m21.707s
2. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m22.285s + 0.578
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m22.302s + 0.595
4. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m22.424s + 0.717
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m22.487s + 0.780
6. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.533s + 0.826
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.005s + 1.298
8. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault No time
9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes No time
10. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari No time

Q2 cut-off time: 1m22.904s Gap **
11. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.944s + 0.839
12. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m22.977s + 0.872
13. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m23.125s + 1.020
14. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m23.177s + 1.072
15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m23.265s + 1.160
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m23.442s + 1.337
17. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m23.444s + 1.339
Q1 cut-off time: 1m24.362s Gap *
18. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m24.981s + 2.398
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m25.277s + 2.694
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m25.507s + 2.924
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m26.582s + 3.999
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.032s + 4.449
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m27.555s + 4.972
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m31.122s + 8.539

107% time: 1m28.363s

* Gap to quickest in Q1

** Gap to quickest in Q2

Sebastian Vettel denied Pastor Maldonado a shock timesheet-topping performance in the final seconds of the third practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona.

Most of the hour had seen a variety of surprise underdog names taking turns on top, before reigning champions Vettel and Red Bull re-established the expecting order with the German's final lap.

It was Sauber's Sergio Perez who led the way for most of the morning, setting the quickest time of the first half hour on the harder tyres, then being swiftly usurped by first Nico Rosberg, then Jean-Eric Vergne as the Mercedes and Toro Rosso tried softs.

Once Perez was on softs too, he was swiftly back in front, lapping in 1m23.742s.

That held until the final two minutes, when his team-mate Kamui Kobayashi jumped to the top, followed by Red Bull's Mark Webber.

But before this pair could get to the pits, they were being usurped as Maldonado came through to put his Williams on top with a 1m23.336s.

The Venezuelan would not stay there, as with seconds left on the clock, Vettel edged him out by 0.168 seconds.

Maldonado, Kobayashi, Webber and Perez found themselves pushed back to second through fifth places, ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, Vergne, and fastest McLaren driver Jenson Button. The sister McLaren of Lewis Hamilton looked poised to grab first place on the Briton's soft tyre run, only to encounter heavy traffic in the middle of the chicane, leaving Hamilton an unrepresentative 16th.

Romain Grosjean did not complete any flying laps after a fuel pressure issue stranded his Lotus at Turn 10 early on, while Timo Glock was the other man to park trackside following an apparent issue at the final chicane in the closing minutes. The German stopped his Marussia just past the pit exit.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m23.168 13
2. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m23.336s + 0.168 19
3. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m23.350s + 0.182 19
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m23.578s + 0.410 16
5. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m23.742s + 0.574 22
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m23.807s + 0.639 15
7. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m23.833s + 0.665 14
8. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m23.909s + 0.741 13
9. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m23.936s + 0.768 16
10. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.070s + 0.902 23
11. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m24.179s + 1.011 16
12. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m24.323s + 1.155 17
13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m24.331s + 1.163 15
14. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m24.409s + 1.241 18
15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m24.599s + 1.431 15
16. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.778s + 1.610 15
17. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m24.825s + 1.657 17
18. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m25.911s + 2.743 20
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m26.587s + 3.419 20
20. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.469s + 4.301 18
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.689s + 4.521 16
22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m28.207s + 5.039 24
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m28.373s + 5.205 13
24. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault no time 2

All Timing Unofficial

Fernando Alonso is optimistic that he can improve in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday after finishing practice two in 14th position at Barcelona, 1.201 seconds behind Jenson Button, who was fastest.

The Spaniard was quickest in first practice but was unable to capitalise in the second session after failing to get a clear lap on soft tyres. He had been hoping to demonstrate the revised Ferrari's pace after a positive test at Mugello where he set the third fastest time over the three days.

"We didn't improve as much as some other cars, some improved by between one and 1.5 seconds [on soft tyres] and I was not able to push them," Alonso said.

"I was unable to get a clean lap and [on] my third lap I had traffic as well so I think I can improve a bit tomorrow with a clean lap and hopefully I can see this advantage that everyone seems to find on the soft."

Alonso said he cannot be certain if Ferrari has made enough of a step forward until after the race on Sunday, but he says the car is behaving as he had expected and he is more confident of getting into the final part of qualifying.

"I am confident that we will do the job and with the updates the first signs are positive, we need to look more at the data but it looks as we suspected," he said.

"Tomorrow hopefully we can see some positive signs and we can get into Q3 a little bit more relaxed this time."

Fernando Alonso - 14th: "It's nice to be back racing in front of my home crowd: from the moment I got here on Wednesday evening, I could already feel the warmth of the fans who are also now all Ferrari fans. We had a very busy programme, with a lot of new things to try and it was important to evaluate them very carefully. First impressions are positive: some parts worked as we expected, others less so, but broadly speaking, it confirms the tendency we had already seen in Mugello last week, which is that the data emerging form the wind tunnel has been been confirmed on track. Today, conditions were obviously very different to when we were here for the winter tests: it's much hotter and the track surface conditions have therefore changed, with temperatures approaching 45º C. We tried to adapt the car set-up to the track conditions, but we are not yet completely satisfied: there is still work to do. Actually, it was a rather different Friday to usual, with the times even more mixed up than we have seen at the first four races this year. The tyres? No surprises, we know them sufficiently well now after all the kilometres we have done this winter and in the first part of the championship. The Softs seem quicker, the Hards more consistent, so nothing new there."

Felipe Massa - 11th: "It was very hot today, which put the tyres under a lot of strain. We worked a lot on the updates we have available as from this weekend and, at first sight, the results seem to be positive. This morning especially, we concentrated on comparing different configurations, while in the afternoon, we worked mainly on set-up and tyre behaviour. It's impossible to make a comparison with the results of winter testing, because the track surface conditions have completely changed as the temperature is so different to what we had in the winter. Now we must put together all the best elements to produce our maximum potential and prepare well for qualifying and the race. On Sunday, if it turns out as hot as this, it will be an even tougher race than usual, especially because of tyre degradation."

Pat Fry: "An even busier Friday than usual for the whole team, coming off the back of a run of equally busy days, both at the track, with three days testing in Mugello and at the factory, where everyone put in an extraordinary amount of effort to bring as many new parts as possible here. In the two sessions, we privileged the job of evaluating and comparing all the new elements available, rather than the more usual preparation for a race weekend. I am not in the habit of giving instant verdicts on new parts: some elements have fully matched our expectations, others less so. Now we must analyse everything calmly, to get the most out of what we have and put it on the car. Definitely, car balance seems to be better on the Hards than the Softs and that partly explains the fact that we did not manage to significantly improve our times moving from one compound to another, without however forgetting that Fernando was always in traffic when he was on a set of new Softs. However, we still have a lot to do to set up the car in a way that will allow us to make the most of these tyres. All in all, I think we can say we have made a step forward, but how big it is compared to our competitors is something we will only find out tomorrow."

Jenson Button overcame understeer issues with his McLaren to post the quickest time of the day in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver used Pirelli's soft tyres to set a best time of 1m23.399s - enough to beat world champion Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull by 0.164 seconds.

Nico Rosberg put Mercedes in third position, with Button's team-mate Lewis Hamilton in fourth and Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen completing the top five, albeit over half a second off the pace.

Raikkonen's team-mate Romain Grosjean was sixth ahead of Mark Webber in the second Red Bull, with Michael Schumacher, Kamui Kobayashi and Nico Hulkenberg completing the top 10.

This morning's pacesetter Fernando Alonso had to settle for 14th position in the Ferrari.

With the track temperatures rising to 43 degrees Celsius, Sergio Perez was the early pacesetter for Sauber with a lap of 1m25.532s, but the Mexican was demoted around eight minutes into the session, when Vettel stopped the clock at 1m25.000s.

Schumacher was the first man to lap in the 1m24s in the afternoon session just moments later, the German jumping to the top with a 1m24.859s, still some four tenths of a second off Alonso's best from the morning.

The Spaniard returned to first position at the 18-minute mark with a lap that was still around three tenths off his best, but 0.120s faster than Schumacher. Jean-Eric Vergne relegated the local hero to second three minutes later with a fastest lap just 0.006s better than Alonso's.

A few minutes later, Vettel flew to the top of the times in his first run on Pirelli's softs, the world champion's 1m23.563s the best time of the weekend until that point. Sauber's Kobayashi moved into second position, albeit over six tenths off Vettel's best, by also running with the softer compound.

Hamilton first and Webber later also completed runs on the soft tyres to move to second and third behind Vettel.

With 35 minutes gone it was Button's turn to go out with softs, and the Briton made good use of them to spring to the top of the times with a 1m23.399 despite having complained of severe understeer earlier on.

Alonso went out on softs with some 41 minutes to go, but the Spaniard aborted his first flying lap after a first split that was slower than his rivals. He completed the lap in the next attempt, but was only 13th quickest.

Webber was the protagonist of the first incident of the session when he went off the track at Turn 4, the Australian leaving a lot of stones on the circuit as he made his way back to the asphalt.

Webber's move was mirrored by Perez later on, the Sauber driver also having a trip across the gravel at the same corner.

As teams worked on longer runs, the times at the top stayed mostly unchanged for the last 30 minutes of the session.

HRT's Narain Karthikeyan, whose car was driven by Dani Clos in the opening session, failed to set a time in the afternoon, the Indian stopping on track with a problem. He had spent nearly an hour in the garage waiting for his mechanics to solve an electrical issue.


Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m23.399 38
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m23.563s + 0.164 38
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.771s + 0.372 41
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m23.909s + 0.510 32
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m23.918s + 0.519 32
6. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m23.964s + 0.565 37
7. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m24.065s + 0.666 34
8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m24.080s + 0.681 36
9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.214s + 0.815 41
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m24.365s + 0.966 22
11. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m24.418s + 1.019 35
12. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.422s + 1.023 32
13. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m24.468s + 1.069 40
14. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m24.600s + 1.201 33
15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m24.688s + 1.289 30
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m24.733s + 1.334 34
17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m24.769s + 1.370 37
18. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m25.047s + 1.648 42
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m26.296s + 2.897 36
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m26.740s + 3.341 35
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.314s + 3.915 27
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.664s + 4.265 30
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m28.235s + 4.836 26
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth no time 2

All Timing Unofficial

Fernando Alonso gave the upgraded Ferrari an encouraging grand prix weekend debut as he went fastest in the first Friday practice session at Barcelona.

Although the home favourite did not go for a flying lap until over an hour into the morning, Alonso was immediately quick when he finished his data-gathering runs - knocking Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull off the top spot with a 1m24.754s lap 21 minutes from the end of the session.

Alonso then improved again on his next run and lapped in 1m24.430s, giving him a 0.378-second cushion over Vettel, who remained second to the finish.

Before Alonso started setting the pace, Vettel had enjoyed a 15-minute spell at the head of the order, having usurped long-time first-place man Kamui Kobayashi. The Sauber stayed near the front, though, holding third place at the end of the session.

McLaren's practice activities included evaluating its new nose and checking sight lines with a bar across the top of the chassis. Jenson Button was fourth quickest, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton eighth.

Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas spent a while in second before ending up fifth in Bruno Senna's regular car. Michael Schumacher and Romain Grosjean were next up in the best Mercedes and Lotus respectively, with the latter's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and Force India's Nico Hulkenberg completing the top 10 behind Hamilton.

Bottas was one of four reserve drivers in action during the morning. Jules Bianchi was 18th in Paul di Resta's Force India, and there were debuts for Caterham's Alexander Rossi and HRT's Dani Clos, who were 21st and 24th respectively. Clos' car developed a problem near the end but he was able to crawl back into the pitlane before coming to a halt at the end of the pit entry.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m24.430 20
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m24.808s + 0.378 18
3. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.912s + 0.482 28
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.996s + 0.566 24
5. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m25.120s + 0.690 24
6. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m25.187s + 0.757 15
7. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m25.217s + 0.787 16
8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.252s + 0.822 20
9. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m25.285s + 0.855 29
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m25.339s + 0.909 24
11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.367s + 0.937 22
12. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m25.433s + 1.003 21
13. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m25.539s + 1.109 23
14. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m25.607s + 1.177 20
15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.918s + 1.488 19
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m26.226s + 1.796 24
17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m26.297s + 1.867 18
18. Jules Bianchi Force India-Mercedes 1m26.630s + 2.200 21
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m27.475s + 3.045 20
20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m28.267s + 3.837 21
21. Alexander Rossi Caterham-Renault 1m28.448s + 4.018 25
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m28.633s + 4.203 22
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m29.107s + 4.677 19
24. Dani Clos HRT-Cosworth 1m31.618s + 7.188 19

All Timing Unofficial