Mark Webber has finished the first free practice as fastest. He was leading Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. His teammate, Sebastian Vettel, was 13th.

The track was very damp and cold at the start of the session. The air and track temperature were only 14 degrees. The first driver to do an installation lap was Sebastien Buemi. Most drivers did one installation lap before returning to the pits. Like most Friday morning sessions the session really started 30 minutes in when driver started setting fast laps.

The first to do a proper time in the wet conditions was Nico Rosberg the German did a 1:51.590 but that was quickly beaten by Jenson Button and Mark Webber who were a full second faster. The times continued to drop and halfway through the session it was Michael Schumacher who was on top. The German did a 1:48.278 and was a half second faster than Sebastian Vettel.

With 30 minutes to go Alonso and Mark Webber improved slightly on Schumacher's time. Alonso did a 1:48.161 and Webber was just a few hundreds slower. After they set their times it started to rain. In the last 15 minutes of the session the rain stopped. Kamui Kobayashi was on a fast lap when he made a mistake in the last corner. Coming out of the exit he went a too wide for too long and lost control of the car. He spun into the barrier and suffered heavy damage to his car. It looks unlikely that he'll make the afternoon session.

In the final minutes the track started to dry. Mark Webber proved fastest with a 1:46.603. He was in front of Schumacher and Barrichello who were at a 6 tenths distance.