F1 Fanatic

Lewis Hamilton was quickest in the first practice session for the Indian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver hit the top of the times with his last lap of the session.

The Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were second and third, separated by one hundredth of a second.

Jenson Button was a slightly frustrated fourth-fastest having been held up by Narain Karthikeyan late in the session.

The first practice session for the Indian Grand Prix began with the four Indian representatives jostling to be first out of the pits.

Adrian Sutil won this minor contest for Force India, before being overtaken by Karun Chandhok. The other Force India of Paul di Resta followed them, along with Karthikeyan.

While the others did single installation laps, Chandhok remained on track to set the first ever lap of the new circuit.

Proceedings came to a halt soon after as Chandhok passed a dog on his subsequent tour. Several had been spotted around the track before the start of the session.

The session was restarted after a five-minute delay and continued without further canine interruptions.

Fernando Alonso dropped out of the session halfway through when he lost power on his Ferrari, leaving Felipe Massa to complete the day’s work for the team. He ran the new front wing Alonso had raced in Korea, which was seen vibrating heavily at turn four at one point.

Drivers struggled for grip on the dusty track and several of them ran wide or had spins during the session. The only one to make it as far as a barrier was Jaime Alguersuari, who went off at turn nine.

It was slippery in the pit lane as well as Chandhok found out to his cost. The Lotus driver almost hit Pastor Maldonado as he got too much wheelspin while leaving his pit bix.

Maldonado’s session ended early as plumes of smoke came from his Williams at the exit of turn four, forcing him to pull over.

The yellow flags came out as the car was recovered and were being withdrawn as Hamilton set his final flying lap.

Michael Schumacher ended the session fifth ahead of his team mate, having been fastest early on.

Felipe Massa was seventh for Ferrari with Sutil, Sebastien Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi completing the top ten.

Update: Follow the session Hamilton and Sergio Perez were given penalties for ignoring double waved yellow flags.

2011 Indian Grand Prix

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• Rate the race result: 2011 Indian Grand Prix
• Massa’s crash and more fans’ videos from the Indian Grand Prix
• 2011 Indian Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
• Herbert explains Massa’s penalty: “He knew where Hamilton was”
• Vote for your Indian GP driver of the weekend
• Red Bull: Vettel never troubled for 11th win
• McLaren: Another race to forget for Hamilton
• Ferrari: Massa runs afoul of kerbs – and Hamilton
• Mercedes: Drivers’ points gap shrinks as Rosberg loses out