Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa set the pace in first practice at the Spanish Grand Prix.
World champion Raikkonen, who just shaded his Brazilian team-mate, was more than 0.5 seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren in third place.
The Finn's best lap of 1:20.649 beat Massa by just 0.05secs.
Double champion Fernando Alonso hinted at an upturn in form for Renault with sixth place, behind BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica and McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen.
Renault have been off the pace so far this season, with Alonso struggling even to finish in the points.
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Friday practice sessions are notoriously unreliable indicators of form, however, and only in Saturday qualifying will there be a true measure of whether Renault have made progress.
Ferrari's apparent pace will be a concern for McLaren and Hamilton, who have struggled compared to their title rivals in the last two races.
McLaren have said that only after this race will a true picture emerge of the cars' relative competitiveness for the season and will be hoping they are much closer to Ferrari in the race.
Times from first practice session for Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Catalunya:
1. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:20.649
2. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1:20.699
3. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.192
4. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:21.568
5. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.758
6. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:21.933
7. Nelson Piquet Jr (Brz) Renault 1:21.936
8. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 1:22.118
9. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:22.278
10. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:22.632
11. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:23.002
12. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:23.003
13. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:23.015
14. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:23.141
15. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:23.153
16. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 1:23.156
17. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari 1:23.196
18. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:23.353
19. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.952
20. Sebastia n Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:24.082
21. Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 1:24.278
22. Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 1:25.068
(BBC)
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