Kovalainen quickest before crash

On a drying circuit after early-morning rain, Kovalainen had just clocked his best lap of one minute 16.567 seconds.

But on his next outing, the Finn broke the rear suspension of his car after clipping a barrier with his right rear wheel emerging out of the swimming pool complex.

Kovalainen's hot lap had come just 25 minutes into the hour-long session, and was an indicator of how fast the track was drying out at the time.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa was the first driver to record a time a few minutes after the pitlane opened, the Brazilian setting a time of 1:21.359secs.

Within the space of just over 20 minutes, Kovalainen had shaved over five seconds off that time, only to ruin his and his team's morning almost immediately.

The 26-year-old's accident unsurprisingly caused a red flag as marshals removed the stricken car and cleared debris.

Another shower then hit the Principality, making driving conditions difficult once the session re-started with 27 minutes remaining.

The best times, though, had all been set earlier on, with drivers then tip-toeing around the wet track due to the absence of traction control this year.

Lewis Hamilton emerged second quickest, just over 0.5secs down on his team-mate, with the McLaren duo followed by reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen and the Williams of Nico Rosberg.