Alonso sets Nurburgring pace

Fernando Alonso began the German Grand Prix weekend as he finished the recent British - out in front.

The momentum gained from taking the chequered flag at Silverstone 12 days ago to give Ferrari their first victory of the year carried through to today's first practice session at the Nurburgring for Alonso.

Alonso completed 30 laps - a figure only bettered by Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher - with his best a one minute 31.894secs.

The double world champion finished 0.323secs ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber, who narrowly edged team-mate Sebastian Vettel into third by 0.051secs around the 3.198-mile circuit.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa was the only other driver who finished within a second of Alonso, the Brazilian 0.787secs adrift.

If McLaren were hoping for an improvement on their showing on home soil where they were found wanting for pace, the early signs were hardly encouraging.

Although fifth and sixth quickest, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button found themselves 1.1secs and 1.7secs down, followed by a quartet of Germans in Rosberg, Force India's Adrian Sutil and Nico Hulkenberg, as well as Schumacher.

In front of his home crowd, Force India reserve driver Hulkenberg was given his chance ahead of Paul di Resta, who will return for the second session later today.