Europe 2012 - Free Practice 1 results - Williams return to the top of the timesheets as the Valencia weekend begins
Published by Christine
Pastor Maldonado led the way in a return to form for Williams. First practice saw the Williams do battle with the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg for the top spot, although the German gradually fell down the order to finish behind his teammate. Pastor finished top ahead of both the Red Bull cars, with Sebastian Vettel ahead of Mark Webber. Meanwhile Jenson Button made a better start to his weekend, finishing this first session fourth, whilst two reserve drivers were granted some seat time - Jules Bianchi for Force India, and Valtteri Bottas for Williams.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams F1 Team | 1:40.890 | 22 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing | 1:40.973 | 21 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing | 1:40.984 | 19 |
| 4 | Jenson Button | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | 1:40.994 | 19 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:41.065 | 26 |
| 6 | Paul di Resta | Sahara Force India F1 Team | 1:41.105 | 15 |
| 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1:41.117 | 22 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | 1:41.158 | 18 |
| 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1:41.182 | 21 |
| 10 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus F1 Team | 1:41.620 | 21 |
| 11 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus F1 Team | 1:41.784 | 15 |
| 12 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber F1 Team | 1:41.838 | 19 |
| 13 | Sergio Pérez | Sauber F1 Team | 1:41.861 | 16 |
| 14 | Felipe Massa | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:42.109 | 20 |
| 15 | Jules Bianchi | Sahara Force India F1 Team | 1:42.175 | 21 |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams F1 Team | 1:42.299 | 24 |
| 17 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham F1 Team | 1:42.442 | 26 |
| 18 | Jean-Éric Vergne | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:42.758 | 26 |
| 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:42.777 | 28 |
| 20 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham F1 Team | 1:43.209 | 19 |
| 21 | Charles Pic | Marussia F1 Team | 1:44.173 | 18 |
| 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT Formula 1 Team | 1:44.996 | 15 |
| 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT Formula 1 Team | 1:45.120 | 23 |
| 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia F1 Team | 1:45.338 | 7 |
