Alonso fastest for Ferrari in Valencia

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso raised the hopes of his home fans with the fastest lap in free practice for the European Grand Prix on Friday.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso raised the hopes of his home fans with the fastest lap in free practice for the European Grand Prix on Friday.

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The Spaniard, chasing his first win of a tough season dominated by Formula One champions Red Bull, lapped the Valencia street circuit with a best time of one minute 37.968 seconds.

His former McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton was second fastest on a track where he has finished runner-up for the past three years.

"The track characteristics are well suited to our car but it is too early to say where we are compared to the others," said Alonso.

"In the past we have gone well on the first day only to see ourselves losing out by a second in qualifying, therefore I don't even want to consider today's time sheet."

Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel was third on the timing screens after a muted morning session in which he was only 16th.

"Sometimes you try different things, which is normal on a Friday," he said. "There were no secrets from us today. This morning we were running a different programme but this afternoon we were on the same page as the others."