Mark Webber tops practice at Barcelona

Mark Webber has topped both practice sessions on the opening days of the Spanish Grand Prix at Catalunya.

The Australian was the benchmark in both hour-long sessions, setting a 1m22.470s in the second session to be the fastest of the pack.

His team-mate Sebastian Vettel was second and third in the two sessions, with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton edged out Vettel for second fastest in Practice 2.

Webber was pleased with the day’s running.

“The car ran well today, we’ve still got some work to do, but it was one of our better Fridays,” he said.

“It’s the first time we’ve run the RB7 in Barcelona in these temperatures, so the team’s learned quite a lot. Tyres are a big factor here, we know that, so we will be looking to manage them as best we can.

“It’s always been a reasonable track for me here, with a good result last year, so I hope to keep that trend going this weekend.”

Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button was fourth fastest in final session, ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes drivers Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg, Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa, who had an off-track moment during the session.

Practice 3 will be held this evening (Australian time) at 7pm ahead of qualifying at 10pm.