F1: Surprising Alonso Leads First Spain Practice

Formula 1

F1: Surprising Alonso Leads First Spain Practice

Fernando Alonso took the surprisingly quick Ferrari to the top of the time sheet in FP1...

Jared Turner | Posted May 11, 2012 Barcelona (ESP)

Thanks to recent upgrades on the F2012 car, Ferrari was expected to be improved this weekend at Circuit de Catalunya in Spain.

No one, including driver Fernando Alonso, could predict just how much better the car would be, however.

Friday's opening practice in Barcelona provided the first indication.

Alonso, who despite winning Round Two in Malaysia has been as outspoken as anyone about the sluggish pace of the F2012 this season, led the way in FP1 much to the delight of the fans in his native Spain.

The two-time World Champion showed the way with a top lap of 1:24:430, nearly fourth tenths better than Sebastian Vettel's second-place time of 1:24:808.

The surprising Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi clocked in third at 1:24:912 as Jenson Button and Williams reserve driver Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top five.

Positions six through 10 on the time sheet belonged to Michael Schumacher, Romain Grosjean, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Hulkenberg.

The session featured two new faces as American driver Alexander Rossi made his first laps in Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham, and Spaniard Dani Clos debuted in Narain Karthikeyan's HRT.

Kovalainen and Karthikeyan will return to their respective seats for the remainder of the weekend.

Four different drivers have won over the season's first four events, with Button, Alonso, Nico Rosberg and Vettel notching one victory apiece.

Reigning World Champion Vettel leads the driver standings, having taken over the top spot with his triumph in Bahrain three weekends ago.

On-track activities resume in Barcelona with Free Practice Two live on SPEED at 8 a.m. ET.

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One, and is an Editor for TruckSeries.com. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.