Tweet
Lewis Hamilton led team-mate Jenson Button in a McLaren one-two in first practice at the Spanish Grand Prix.Hamilton's fastest lap of one minute 21.134 seconds put him 0.538secs ahead of Button, who narrowly outpaced the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher.
It was a promising start for the German, driving a modified Mercedes he hopes will improve his performance after a lacklustre comeback to date.
The Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were fourth and fifth.
All the teams have brought major performance upgrades to their cars for this race, the first European grand prix of the season, but it is too early to judge whether they have changed the competitive order.
Schumacher's team-mate Nico Rosberg was sixth fastest, ahead of the Renault of Robert Kubica and local hero Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.
It was only the fourth time this season that Schumacher has outpaced Rosberg in a practice session - and he did it by 0.4secs.
The German legend, 41, was only 0.044secs slower than Button as Mercedes tried out their new parts.
These include a lengthened wheelbase and new engine cover, with Mercedes hoping they will make the behaviour of the car more to Schumacher's liking, as well as generally improve its performance.
Mercedes chief operating officer Nick Fry said: "It was very much experimentation. We've been trying out a lot of different things.
"There's quite a lot of changes to the car and the main thing was checking out the aero balance and weight distribution.
"It looks promising. Things are going to plan and I expect to see continual improvement."
Alonso had some wild moments out on the track but his position is higher than it has been in most Friday practice sessions this season, with his team generally choosing to do race preparation work on the first day of a race weekend.
Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa was 12th, more than 0.7secs adrift.
Ferrari have introduced new front and rear wings, a new diffuser, new barge boards, their version of McLaren's 'F-duct' aerodynamic aid, which improves top speed, and engine changes aimed at improving reliability.
McLaren and Red Bull also both have major aerodynamic upgrades on their cars for this race.This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.