Hamilton sets pace in first practice

Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the first session of free practice today as the McLaren driver looks to take a firm grip on the world championship title race at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old Briton clocked a time of one minute 18.910 seconds to top the timesheet ahead of title rival Felipe Massa of Ferrari, who finished 0.153sec slower.

Hamilton’s team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was third fastest with a time of 1:19.279 while Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth.

Singapore Grand Prix winner Fernando Alonso was fifth while team-mate Nelson Piquet completed a good session for Renault as he rounded off the top six.

Sebastian Vettel enjoyed a solid session for Toro Rosso as he took seventh while BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, third in the driver standings, was eighth fastest.

Sebastien Bourdais of Toro Rosso was ninth while Williams driver and local favourite Kazuki Nakajima completed the top 10.

Honda’s Jenson Button could only manage 17th fastest while David Coulthard finished 19th in his Red Bull.

The session got off to a slow start in dry and sunny conditions at the Fuji Speedway circuit with Timo Glock setting the early pace 15 minutes in when the Toyota driver clocked a time of 1:22.937.

Raikkonen became the first driver of the leading teams to go top of the order soon after in his first timed lap after half-an-hour, posting a time of 1:19.522 before Hamilton briefly took the lead when he went 0.058 seconds faster.

Both Ferraris were quickest midway through the session with Raikkonen clocking a best lap of 1:19.399 to lead team-mate Massa by just 0.005 seconds.

However, Hamilton moved top of the pack shortly before the hour mark when he recorded a time of 1:19.062 before he improved to 1:18.910, which remained the benchmark.

The session was largely without incident with the yellow flag being raised just once after Nick Heidfeld spun in his BMW Sauber at turn 10 before rejoining.