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SINGAPORE - Red Bull's Sebastien Vettel threw down the gauntlet to Brawn GP pair Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello Friday by topping the times in opening free practice for Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix.
The German is 26 points behind championship leader Button and 12 adrift of Barrichello with four Grand Prix left and knows he needs a victory here to stay in the hunt.
He hurled his car around the Marina Bay street circuit in 1:48.650 to finish 0.274 behind the late-charging Fernando Alonso, who finally gave the disgraced Renault team something to smile about.
McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was third with BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld fourth.
Button came home fifth while Barrichello, who was fastest in the first practice session, could only manage 11th.
Vettel's teammate Mark Webber took sixth despite crashing out.
It wasn't easy driving under lights and, with a massive construction site for a new casino being built nearby, the track was not just bumpy but dusty.
It meant slippery tarmac, with several drivers losing control as they got a feel for the conditions.
Webber was the first to crack the 1:50.000 barrier and Vettel soon joined him as Red Bull once again showed their potential.
But Australia's Webber was pushing too hard and with 35 minutes of the session gone lost control on the turn coming into the start/finish straight, spinning across the track and smashing into the pit wall.
It was his night over with heavy damage to the front corner of his car and, with debris on the track the red flag came out, delaying the action for 10 minutes.
Soon after they came back out and Heidfeld set the fastest time.
As the dust got sucked up from the track the times started getting quicker and soon all the top 10 drivers were under 1:50.000.
Heidfeld clung to the quickest lap for over 30 minutes before Kovalainen clocked a 1:48.952.
It set the scene for a final flurry of activity with Vettel once again proving why he is considered a future world champion.
While Alonso came second, there was more misery for Renault with Romain Grosjean hitting the wall during the first practice at Turn 17 -- ironically the very same place Nelson Piquet deliberately crashed here last year.
It had been a bad day already for the French manufacturer which was forced to run its cars without the logo of main sponsor ING after the Dutch banking giant pulled the plug on their partnership with immediate effect.
ING said it was "deeply disappointed" with the team which this week was slapped with a two-year suspended ban over the Piquet race-fix row.
Another sponsor, Spanish insurer Mutua Madrilena, agreed with the sentiment and also severed ties.
That opening session was halted for 11 minutes to allow Grosjean's car to be cleared from the track, although it was not badly damaged and he returned for the second free practice.
His track time though had been badly compromised and the Frenchman finished in 19th place.
- AFP /ls
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