Prac One: Kubica quickest for Renault

Robert Kubica pulled off a surprise in Friday's Australian GP practice as the Renault racer put his R30 into the P1 slot ahead of Nico Rosberg.

With the sun baking down on the circuit, Kubica was the only driver to break into the 1:26s as he outpaced Rosberg by 0.199s.

Jenson Button and Felipe Massa were next in line while Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton all finished within a second of the Polish driver's P1 time.

However, it was Kamui Kobayashi who livened up the show as the Sauber driver brought out the red flags on two occasions.

Report: With practice starting at 12:30pm local time, the sun over Melbourne was out in full force with a track temperature of 39'C awaiting the drivers, who were quick to put in their installation laps and get their weekend underway.

Bruno Senna set the first time of the day, a 1:37.989 for the Hispania driver. He was soon overhauled by his team-mate Karun Chandhok, who went 0.011s quicker while Virgin's Lucas di Grassi took third place. Heikki Kovalainen went quickest of all, up by more than a second over his fellow new team drivers.

However, he was dropped when Lewis Hamilton put in his first lap time, a full five seconds up on Kovalainen's best, and the first indication of what the big boys will be doing around the Albert Park circuit. With more drivers venturing out Kamui Kobayashi went second ahead of Pedro de la Rosa, Force India test driver Paul di Resta, Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hulkenberg.

Problems for Kobayashi, who lost his front nose at Turn 12 after hitting a bollard before sliding across the gravel and heading back to the pits.

Michael Schumacher took second place, 2.054s behind Hamilton. However, while on a hot lap that included a fastest first sector time, the session was then red flagged, sending Schumacher into the pits and allowing the marshals time to clear up the damage caused by Kobayashi's incident.

Four minutes later the session was re-started with some talk that Schumacher could face a penalty of some sort for setting the fastest lap time of the session, a 1:28.629 under red flags conditions. His time was disallowed almost immediately while Red Bull boss Christian Horner joked that the German should face a ten-grid slot penalty for the next two races for his antics under red.

Nico Rosberg moved up to first place before he was dropped by Jenson Button. Robert Kubica took third ahead of Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Rubens Barrichello and Schumacher.

Button improved to a 1:27.482 while Kubica climbed to second, Schumacher sixth and Felipe Massa eighth.

The session then came to an halt as Kobayashi crashed his Sauber C29 when his front wing, who had just been put back on following his earlier incident, collapsed under the car as he came into the run down to Turn 3, sending the Japanese rookie across the gravel and into the barriers.

Kobayashi managed to avoid doing serious damage to his car and climbed out unaided while once again the marshals were entrusted with the task of cleaning up the debris as he hit a polystyrene braking board on his way to the gravel.

Six minutes later the session re-started with Jarno Trulli putting in his first time of the day, a 1:33.799, over six seconds off Button's pace, however, it was di Grassi who was still the quickest of the new team drivers in 19th place. Kovalainen added his name to the list of spinnners.

Rosberg moved up to first place before losing out to Kubica, who posted a 1:26.927, while his team-mate Petrov spun his Renault. Pedro de la Rosa returned to the track after the Sauber team checked over his car to ensure he wouldn't suffer a similar wing failure to his team-mate, however, seconds later his car stopped on the side of the track.

Another incident for Petrov saw him damage the under side of his car as he rode the kerbs before spinning while Senna took the grass as he went off track.

Massa improved up to fourth place, Alonso to seventh and di Resta to 14th. Petrov moved up to ninth place after the chequered flag had fallen while Kovalainen parked his Lotus on the side of the track.

Times

1. Kubica Renault 1:26.927 22 laps
2. Rosberg Mercedes 1:27.126 + 0.199 18 laps
3. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.482 + 0.555 22 laps
4. Massa Ferrari 1:27.511 + 0.584 18 laps
5. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:27.686 + 0.759 23 laps
6. Alonso Ferrari 1:27.747 + 0.820 21 laps
7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.793 + 0.866 22 laps
8. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.014 + 1.087 21 laps
9. Petrov Renault 1:28.114 + 1.187 25 laps
10. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:28.192 + 1.265 18 laps
11. di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:28.537 + 1.610 25 laps
12. Schumacher Mercedes 1:28.850 + 1.623 19 laps
13. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.572 + 1.645 21 laps
14. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:28.683 + 1.756 22 laps
15. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:29.465 + 2.538 13 laps
16. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:29.712 + 2.785 18 laps
17. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:30.249 + 3.322 26 laps
18. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:31.654 + 4.661 5 laps
19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:31.652 + 4.725 13 laps
20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:31.654 + 4.727 26 laps
21. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:32.831 + 5.904 25 laps
22. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:33.401 + 6.474 24 laps
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:34.251 + 7.324 19 laps
24. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:34.924 + 7.998 8 laps

Source: Planet-F1