The British squad's reserve driver recorded the fastest time of 1:14.277 at Hockenheim to end the hour-long run over half a second quicker than Toyota’s Ricardo Zonta.

Third fastest, and top of the race drivers, was another McLaren ace in Kimi Raikkonen.

The Finn marginally edged out BAR's Jenson Button who, with a time of 1:15.851, was quite competitive.

Juan Pablo Montoya, at the wheel of a third McLaren, was fifth ahead of Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello in sixth and seventh respectively.

With the one-engine-per-race-weekend regulations encouraging a conservsative start, the first session was a relatively dull affair.

Few laps were completed and as in previous events title race leaders Renault never even sent their drivers out for a flying lap.