Vettel crashes out in wet Turkish practice

(CNN) -- World champion Sebastian Vettel crashed out in a rain-affected opening practice session for Formula One's Turkish Grand Prix as McLaren's Jenson Button clocked the fastest lap at Istanbul Park on Friday. 

The first of the day's two sessions was red-flagged for about 10 minutes when Red Bull's Vettel crashed into the barriers after spinning out of control on the slippery track at the exit of the tricky Turn Eight.

The German, who leads the championship by 21 points after three races, sat out the second practice as his RB7 was being rebuilt ahead of Saturday's third session and then qualifying.

The morning times, headed by Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, were largely irrelevant due to the conditions, with most teams choosing to conserve their tires. 

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McLaren's defending race champion Lewis Hamilton did not even set one after completing only one lap, while fellow former world champion Button was 23rd after just four circuits. The English driver went around 26 times in the afternoon as he set the leading mark of one minute 26.456 seconds -- more than 12s faster than Alonso's earlier effort. Nico Rosberg was second in both sessions for Mercedes, with veteran teammate Michael Schumacher third and then fourth.

Hamilton, who broke Vettel's four-race winning run last time out in China, was third in the afternoon with a time of 1:27.033. "We saved tires during this morning's session. In the afternoon, despite the limited running in P1, we got quite a lot of our run-plan completed, which was very satisfying," the 2008 world champion said. "I initially struggled a little bit with set-up, which we can look at and fix overnight, but I was really pleased with my long-run pace -- I think it was probably one of the best practice long-runs I've ever had."

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Button said that McLaren had not been able to implement all the team's planned upgrades for the opening race of the European leg of the season. "We haven't put everything on the car that we wanted to this weekend, which is disappointing, but we still have some useful upgrades so it's nice to keep moving forwards," he said. "Trying to get the car to ride the bumps well into Turn 12 has been difficult, but we improved it through the session. Turn 12 is really bumpy -- it's like they put a motocross jump in there! 

"And Turn Eight's quite tough too because, depending on your balance, it can damage the front and rear tires." Red Bull's Mark Webber was fifth fastest in the afternoon ahead of Ferrari's three-time Turkey champion Felipe Massa. Alonso was back in 11th on 1:28.069 after a mechanical problem left him stuck in the entry to the pit lane.

Massa said the weather, which had lowered track temperatures to around 11C at the start of the day, would have an impact on the weekend's outcome. "It depends on the rain. It can be good, it can be bad. It is always a little bit of a lottery," the Brazilian said. "But it's true I had great races here, winning three times in a row and starting from pole position all three times was a great feeling. I like to drive here and I hope we can carry on in the same direction."

Source : CNN

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