Barca: Webber hits top, di Grassi hits the barriers

Mark Webber topped the timesheets, Fernando Alonso was responsible for a red flag and Lucas di Grassi crashed into the barriers during an action-packed morning session in Barcelona.

After failing to post any time during the opening hour, Webber quickly made amends by flying around the track in 1:23.512 to remove Nico Rosberg from the No 1 spot.

It was almost dejavu a few minutes later as Fernando Alonso caused the second red flag of the morning at Turn 10 - almost exactly an hour after Lotus' Fairuz Fauzy stopped there. No one was quite sure what caused the F10 to come to a halt.

When the track was reopened, Renault's Vitaly Petrov posted his first time of the day - a 1:29.5 - his time was never going to trouble those setting the pace.

McLaren, who earlier in the day had problems with their transponder, decided to test a new pitstop device on the back of Jenson Button's car, while Lotus did some "lambda sensor runs for engine", according to Mike Gascoyne on Twitter. Force India's Tonio Luizzi was "running through race preparation - simulating a lap behing the pace car now. Tonio has also done some practice pit stops".

The battle for the fastest time in the morning turned out to be a battle between Webber and the two Nicos. Williams' Hulkenberg challenged Webber with a 1:22.684 while Rosberg posted a 1:22.514. However, the Red Bull driver hit back and was the first one to dip under the 1:21 with Rosberg settling for second and Hulkenberg for third.

The third red flag of the day was out 25 minutes before the lunch break after Lucas di Grassi sent his Virgin car crashing into the barriers at Turn 9. According to reports, he lost his back wing and then spun into the tyres. He walked away without a scratch, but the same could not be said about his VR-01.

Alonso finally returned to the track once everyone was given the go-ahead following di Grassi's accident and quickly made his way to fifth place in the timesheets with a 1:24.580 just before the break.

Barca: Webber hits top, di Grassi hits the barriers - Planet-F1 News from planet-f1.com