Practice 1 Report - Heikki in the wet

Heikki Kovalainen set the fastest time of the Friday morning session in Suzuka on a damp track. The Finn was two-tenths of a second ahead of local hero Kazuki Nakajima, followed by Adrian Sutil's Force India, the Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella and Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso. Lewis Hamilton was sixth quickest ahead of Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Rubens Barrichello. Nico Rosberg completed the top 10.

There was little to report from the session which saw Mark Webber 11th, Sebastian Vettel 17th and Jenson Button 18th, indicating that the World Championship leaders are keeping their powder dry.

Toyota's stand-in Kamui Kobayashi was 19th overall, ahead of a lacklustre Romain Grosjean.