A hot morning in Hungary saw Sebastian Vettel finish FP1 at the top of the timesheets. The Red Bull Racing driver completed a lap of 1:22.723 in the last half-hour of the session. It left him two-tenths clear of team-mate Mark Webber, who moments earlier had posted a time of 1:22.982.

Behind the Red Bull pair, Lotus Kimi Rikknen was third quickest, narrowly ahead of Ferraris Fernando Alonso and team-mate Romain Grosjean. Jenson Button was sixth for McLaren, Adrian Sutil seventh for Force India and Nico Rosberg eighth for Mercedes. Sergio Prez was ninth in the second McLaren, the last man within a second of the leader, and Pastor Maldonados Williams rounded out the top ten.

The session got off to a slow start. With last weeks Silverstone test having been dominated by run programmes designed by Pirelli, this morning was the first opportunity for race drivers to use the new tyres with a set-up of their choosing. But the desire to get out on track was tempered by the prospect of a very green surface. On their installation laps a number of drivers reported it to be very dusty, a fact reinforced during the session by the number of cars that ran wide, with floors and rear bodywork sections being damaged in the process.

With that in mind it was perhaps to be expected that nobody wanted to be responsible for sweeping the track. The duty fell to Rodolfo Gonzalez, however. The Venezuelan was the only substitute driver on show, standing in for Max Chilton at Marussia and his was the only car to set a time in the first half-hour, with a best lap of 1:37.942.

Shortly after the half-hour mark more cars emerged and the times fell dramatically. Rosberg was the first man under 1m30, after which the leaderboard went into freefall, with Perez, Raikkonen, Alonso, Grosjean, Button and Webber all taking turns at the top before Vettel went quickest of all with 19 minutes left on the clock.

The session passed off largely without incident, though Toro Rossos Jean-Eric Vergne had a late spin and Kimi Rikknen toured back to the pits in the final minutes with a slow puncture.

2013 Hungarian Grand Prix Free Practice 1 times

1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:22.7232 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:22.982 +0.2593 Kimi Rikknen Lotus 1:23.010 +0.2874 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:23.099 +0.3765 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:23.111 +0.3886 Jenson Button McLaren 1:23.370 +0.6477 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:23.390 +0.6678 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:23.531 +0.8089 Sergio Prez McLaren 1:23.591 +0.86810 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:23.911 +1.18811 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:24.119 +1.39612 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:24.150 +1.42713 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:24.157 +1.43414 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:24.204 +1.48115 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:24.299 +1.57616 Nico Hlkenberg Sauber 1:24.314 +1.59117 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:24.383 +1.66018 Paul di Resta Force India 1:24.608 +1.88519 Charles Pic Caterham 1:25.827 +3.10420 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:26.808 +4.08521 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:27.617 +4.894