Lewis Hamilton steals show as Italian giants are made to feel small

Off the pace: Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso heads for ninth place in qualifying today

13 April 2012

Ferrari kept their cards close to their chest in today's first practice for Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix.

Preparing for their 800th Formula One race, the Italian giants were eclipsed by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who set the fastest time at Istanbul Park. Hamilton was almost a second ahead of team-mate Jenson Button, the world champion, with a time of 1 min 28.653sec for the 5.338km circuit.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was more than 1.6sec behind Hamilton, in ninth, and team-mate Felipe Massa was a lowly 13th, a staggering 2.2sec down.

Red Bull, the class act of the last two races in Spain and Monaco with Mark Webber leading from start to finish in each, have claimed six poles.

But their efforts in the opening 90-minute session suggested they have plenty in reserve, with Webber in eighth place and team-mate Sebastian Vettel in fifth.

Former world champion Michael Schumacher steered his Mercedes to third position.

Hispania Racing reserve driver Sakon Yamamoto, replacing Bruno Senna for this session, was the slowest of the 24 on show, nearly 7.5sec down.