Ferrari's Felipe Massa posted the fastest time in opening practice for the British Grand Prix, but sat out the final third of the session after crashing.

Felipe Massa topped the times in the opening free practice session for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, but had to survive several minutes at the top of the table without the means of defending his spot following a heavy shunt.

The Brazilian had followed Ferrari's now customary gameplan of allowing others to get the ball rolling in the session, moreso after all ten teams had tested at Silverstone last week, but was quickly on the pace when he finally took to the track. However, towards the end of the first 60 minutes, Massa speared off the road at Stowe, hitting the barriers hard with the rear of the F2008.

Driver error and mechanical failure were quickly dismissed as culprits in the incident as reports of an engine problem on Fernando Alonso's Renault suggested that Massa had been caught out by fluids spilt from the R28, much as Timo Glock had ahead of the Ferrari. Fortunately, Massa was unhurt in the incident, but the same could not be said for the car, which sustained heavy rear-end damage and could be forced to miss the afternoon session. The session was red-flagged for nearly 20 minutes while the recovery took place and the fluid spill was attended to.

With the field having to pick up its pace again, as well as dealing with the cement dust on the Hangar Straight, Massa's target time of 1min 19.575secs remained largely unthreatened, although Heikki Kovalainen posted his best effort in the closing stages to move into second spot, ending the 90-minute outing just 0.012secs adrift of the Brazilian.

The Finn also moved ahead of Mclaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton and countryman Kimi Raikkonen as the 'big four' filled the corresponding positions on the timesheet. Raikkonen, fourth fastest, was 0.373secs slower than his team-mate, while Robert Kubica rounded out the top five for BMW Sauber. Alonso wound up sixth-fastest, the final driver within a second of the overall pace.

The rest of the top ten had a slightly unfamiliar feel as Sebastian Vettel and Nelson Piquet Jr filled the next couple of places for Toro Rosso and Renault, with David Coulthard and Nico Rosberg completing the top half of the order. Vettel's pace was backed up by team-mate Sebastien Bourdais, returning to Silverstone for the first time since his successful F3000 campaign in 2002, in 14th spot, the Frenchman pushing himself ahead of Jarno Trulli's Toyota and the Hondas of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello.

Bourdais was only a fraction slower than the second BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld, as the German again made a slow start to a grand prix weekend, while Mark Webber and Timo Glock - who suffered an early spin as well as his Alonso-inspired moment - filled the gap in eleventh and twelfth.

Button and Barrichello continued to struggle with the Honda RA108, sandwiching the two 'local' Force Indias at the foot of the times.