Fernando Alonso was fastest in the first free practice on the Nurburgring. The Spaniard beat Webber, Vettel, Massa and Lewis Hamilton.

The first free practice started with season low temperatures. The air temperature was only 13 degrees and the track temperature was 18 degrees. The session started with most drivers going out for a quick installation lap to test if all systems on the car work as they are suppose to. The first full lap was set after 20 minutes by Nick Heidfeld. The German lapped in 1:37.987. It didn't take long for the times to start dropping dramatically. After half an hour it was Lewis Hamilton leading Nico Rosberg, Schumacher, Alguersuari and Kobyashi.

The times continued to drop at the halfway point. Sebastian Vettel was comfortably leading with a 1:32.536. He was half a second faster than Hamilton and his teammate Mark Webber. Alonso and Button followed by another half a second. In the second half not much happened. Drivers were able to do relative problem free laps. Michael Schumacher had two small moments when his rear end jumped away from him. Heikki Kovalainen also went of track for a short moment when he understeered into the gravel. In the final seconds Sebastian Buemi took a major dive into the gravel pit near turn 5. The car didn't look severely damaged but will have to be checked thoroughly before the start of FP2.

In the end it was Alonso leading with a 1:31.894. He was in front of Webber, Vettel, Massa and Hamilton.