Free Practice 1: Vettel tops times

In FP1 it's not about the time.  The cars were all over the place, not enough grip, learning the track, trying to get heat into the tyres and brakes, trying to fine the lines and braking points through Turn 1, the essses complex afterwards, and the rest of this new track.  It was an uphill struggle for many (not just literally at Turn 1) and success or failure at this stage means little.

Vettel leads Free Practice
Copyright Mark Thompson/Getty Images

However Sebastian Vettel really put the marker down, 1.4s ahead of Lewis Hamilton with Fernando Alonso another 0.6s down the road.

It looks bad but then everyone learns at their own pace and the predicted laptime for today was of the order of 1m39s.  To put it in perspective this was an unknown track, a green surface, a relatively cold morning, and we are all somewhat overhyped and enthusiastic about this race, without due cause as yet.