Formula One championship leader Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time in the first practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday.

The three-time defending F1 champion left it quite late before doing a timed lap but was quickly into his stride under blue skies and hot temperatures.

Vettel, who has never won in Hungary, clocked 1 minute, 22.723 seconds on the Hungaroring circuit — which at 4.381 kilometers (2.7 miles) long is the third shortest in F1 after Monaco and Canada.

His Red Bull teammate Mark Webber was .259 behind and former champion Kimi Raikkonen posted the third best time — .287 back — ahead of Friday's second practice session in the afternoon. Spaniard Fernando Alonso was .376 behind Vettel in fourth.

Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso went off the track late in the session.

Vettel waited until the last 30 minutes of practice to record his first timed lap and it did not take him long to shoot up the leaderboard. The German extended his lead over Alonso with a victory at his home GP and leads the Spaniard by 34 points in the last race before the midseason summer break.

Ten years ago, Alonso became F1's youngest winner with his victory in Hungary aged 22 years and 26 days. His record was beaten by Vettel five years later.

Raikkonen still has an outside shot of winning his second F1 title, sitting 41 points behind Vettel overall in third.

The Finn had an eventful session in his Lotus.

"I've got water on my foot, or something, on the pedals," he said over race radio. He eased off toward the end after getting a puncture.

German Nico Rosberg set the early pace but the priorities for Mercedes were clearly elsewhere.

Mercedes has excelled in qualifying — starting five of the last six races from pole position — but lacks speed over a whole race. Rosberg has two GP wins, both from the front of the grid, while teammate Lewis Hamilton has none.

They both completed 28 laps as they try to improve the car's race durability. Rosberg was eighth fastest and Hamilton 13th.