Red Bull Racing made the ideaꦰl start to the Japanese Grand Prix after leading the way in the first free practice session at Suzuka, although it proved to be a session to forget for Lewis Hamilton and ❀McLaren.

Sebastian Vettel emerged from the 90 minutes of running with the quickest time, narrowly ahead of team-mate Mark Webber, as the Red Bulls led the way, with Robert Kubica and Adrian Sutil impressing in third and f♈ourth for🥃 Renault and Force India.

Hamilton was fifth quickest but that only told half the story for the Briton as his session ended in the barriers at Degner 2. Having got out of shape through the first part of the corner, Hamilton then slid wide across the gravel and into the tyre wall - taking off the front left wheel of the car and leaving McLaren with work to do ahead ofไ the second practice session.

Behind Hamilton, Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg were sixth and seventh, with Michael Schumacher, Nick Heidfeld and Nico 💎Rosberg completing the top ten.

The other two drivers still in contention for the title, Jenson Button and𓆏 Fernando Alonso, were twelfth and 13th - Button also running wide at De🥂gner 2 but managing to keep his car out of the barriers.

Jaime Alguersuari also suffered numerous tripsℱ off track in his Toro Rosso while further down the order, Heikki Kovalainen was quickest of the three new teams for Lotus in 19th place.