Hamilton on top in opening F1 practice

The 26-year-old, clearly in the mood to compete on the edge, clocked a best time of 1min 23.350secs as he outpaced nearest rival and defending champion German Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull by two-tenths of a second.

Two-times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso wound up third for Ferrari on his 30th birthday, narrowly ahead of Australian Mark Webber of Red Bull.

Webber had a major \'off\' during the session when he ran wide over a wet patch of run-off area, lost control and hit the barriers. His car suffered a broken front wing and front left wheel puncture.

Hamilton\'s McLaren team-mate and fellow-Briton Jenson Button was fifth fastest, the 2009 champion out-speeding Brazilian Felipe Massa, back on the track where he suffered a life-threatening accident in 2009, in the second Ferrari.

German Nico Rosberg was seventh ahead of his compatriot and Mercedes team-mate seven-times champion Michael Schumacher.

Mexican Sergio Perez was ninth for Sauber and Russian Vitaly Petrov, who has drawn a vast following of fans to the race, was 10th for Renault.

Just as Hamilton was still in a determined and triumphant mood, so Vettel still appeared to be disenchanted and uncharacteristically downbeat.

Asked what happened in Germany, where Hamilton had won and he had missed a podium finish for the first time this year in 10 races, he said: "There\'s no point trying to find excuses.

"But I didn\'t feel comfortable Friday to Sunday. It was tricky with the conditions, it was very cold, Mark Webber was quicker all weekend and I never really found good balance.

"We have understood most of it but now we need to refocus on this race. We want to be on the top again."

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