Webber sets early pace

Mark Webber set the pace ahead of Jenson Button in first practice for Sunday's German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.

Aussie edges championship leader in first practice

Mark Webber set the pace ahead of world championship leader Jenson Button in a chilly first practice session for Sunday's German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. The Red Bull driver, who currently lies fourth in the standings, lapped the 5.148km circuit in a time of one minute 33.082 seconds to edge Brawn GP's Button by 0.381secs. Ferrari's Felipe Massa was third quickest a further 0.663secs down, with Toyota driver Jarno Trulli fourth as temperatures hovered around the 12-degree mark in the Eifel mountains. Now in his eighth season in F1, Webber has yet to win a grand prix although, speaking on Thursday, Button predicted the Australian might have the edge over team-mate Sebastian Vettel this weekend. The 22-year-old German has won two races so far this season and led Webber home in a Red Bull one-two finish in the British Grand Prix three weeks ago - Button only finishing sixth in his home race. However, making his home grand prix debut at the Nurburgring, Vettel was only eighth fastest on Friday morning, his car grinding to a halt after 10 laps before being repaired. Giancarlo Fisichella impressed with fifth place for Force India, although the Italian's German team-mate Adrian Sutil was at the bottom of the standings, completing just six laps after stopping on track with what appeared to be a mechanical issue. Kimi Raikkonen, who denied reports on Thursday that he is leaving Ferrari, was sixth, with Williams' Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima sandwiching Vettel, the trio all within a second of Webber. Button's team-mate Rubens Barrichello put in a late quick lap to lift himself off the bottom of the pile up to 12th, with Renault's Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld in his BMW Sauber just ahead of the Brazilian. Meanwhile, world champion Lewis Hamilton was 13th, with McLaren Mercedes team-mate Heikki Kovalainen 18th. German Grand Prix, Friday practice, session one: 1. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault 1min 33.082
2. Jenson Button (Britain) Brawn - Mercedes 1:33.463
3. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:33.745
4. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:33.795
5. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India-Mercedes 1:33.839
6. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:33.840
7. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 1:33.902
8. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull - Renault 1:33.909
9. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams - Toyota 1:33.952
10. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:34.148
11. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:34.221
12. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Brawn - Mercedes 1:34.227
13. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren - Mercedes 1:34.483
14. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:34.694
15. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 1:34.738
16. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:34.827
17. Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:34.878
18. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren - Mercedes 1:34.893
19. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota 1:34.911
20. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India-Mercedes 1:35.092