Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber held off the Mercedes and Lotus challenge to give Red Bull a one-two in opening practice for the Indian Grand Prix.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg ensured that Vettel did not have things all his own way during the mid-session short runs when most of the quick laps were set. Rosberg did a 1m27.937s then a 1m27.217s in quick succession to remove the McLarens from their early position on top.

Vettel then beat his compatriot by 0.021 second, but within a minute Rosberg went quicker again and produced a 1m26.899s on the 10th lap of his run.

After a slower lap, Vettel got back up to speed again with a 1m26.683s that would keep him ahead for the rest of the morning. Webber then put his Red Bull between the two Germans in the closing minutes.

Romain Grosjean was fourth for Lotus, while teammate Kimi Raikkonen never attempted a lower-fuel run and was 1.7sec slower in 17th.

Lewis Hamilton had also languished in the midfield for much of the session, before jumping to fifth late in the session, just ahead of Jenson Button and Sergio Perez’s McLarens.

It was a tough start for Ferrari, with Felipe Massa eighth and Fernando Alonso sidelined by a gearbox problem after six laps.

Williams got itself into the top 10 with Valtteri Bottas just behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber in 10th. Bottas’s teammate Pastor Maldonado also had a spell in the top half of the field, though he also had a spin.

James Calado was the session’s other spinner, as he stood in for the ill Paul di Resta at Force India.

Pos Driver                  Team                     Time        Gap    Laps 1. Sebastian Vettel        Red Bull-Renault         1m26.683s           24 2. Mark Webber             Red Bull-Renault         1m26.871s  +0.188s  17 3. Nico Rosberg            Mercedes                 1m26.899s  +0.216s  23 4. Romain Grosjean         Lotus-Renault            1m26.990s  +0.307s  20 5. Lewis Hamilton          Mercedes                 1m27.227s  +0.544s  21 6. Jenson Button           McLaren-Mercedes         1m27.335s  +0.652s  23 7. Sergio Perez            McLaren-Mercedes         1m27.416s  +0.733s  23 8. Felipe Massa            Ferrari                  1m27.692s  +1.009s  21 9. Nico Hulkenberg         Sauber-Ferrari           1m27.770s  +1.087s  1910. Valtteri Bottas         Williams-Renault         1m27.800s  +1.117s  2311. Jean-Eric Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari       1m28.035s  +1.352s  2512. Fernando Alonso         Ferrari                  1m28.214s  +1.531s   613. Daniel Ricciardo        Toro Rosso-Ferrari       1m28.336s  +1.653s  1814. Pastor Maldonado        Williams-Renault         1m28.342s  +1.659s  2115. Adrian Sutil            Force India-Mercedes     1m28.468s  +1.785s  2016. Esteban Gutierrez       Sauber-Ferrari           1m28.538s  +1.855s  1817. Kimi Raikkonen          Lotus-Renault            1m28.730s  +2.047s  1818. James Calado            Force India-Mercedes     1m29.197s  +2.514s  2219. Giedgo van der Garde    Caterham-Renault         1m29.413s  +2.730s  2420. Jules Bianchi           Marussia-Cosworth        1m29.560s  +2.877s  2021. Charles Pic             Caterham-Renault         1m30.026s  +3.343s  2322. Max Chilton             Marussia-Cosworth        1m30.471s  +3.788s  17