Rubens Barrichello pipped his championship rival, Jenson Button, to set the fastest time in the first free practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix.
The on-form Brazilian was faster than his Brawn team-mate by just under two tenths of a second, in a session which featured both day and night running.
Practice One was full of irony as Romain Grosjean managed to crash his Renault in the exact same spot as Nelson Piquet had during last year’s infamous race fix scandal. The incident brought out the red flags.
Grosjean’s team-mate faired much better with Fernando Alonso setting the fourth fastest time – splitting the two Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:50.179 19 2. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:50.356 + 0.177 22 3. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:50.416 + 0.237 21 4. Alonso Renault (B) 1:50.567 + 0.388 16 5. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:50.614 + 0.435 16 6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:50.699 + 0.520 21 7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:50.715 + 0.536 17 8. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:50.815 + 0.636 15 9. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:50.865 + 0.686 10. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:51.089 + 0.910 25 11. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:51.427 + 1.248 23 12. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:51.544 + 1.365 14 13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:51.643 + 1.464 28 14. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:51.656 + 1.477 15 15. Glock Toyota (B) 1:52.083 + 1.904 20 16. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:52.135 + 1.956 20 17. Fisichella Ferrari (B) 1:52.390 + 2.211 24 18. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:52.905 + 2.726 23 19. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:53.232 + 3.053 25 20. Grosjean Renault (B) 1:53.458 + 3.279 9 All Timing Unofficial
