C’est Adrian Sutil sur Force India qui a réussi le temps le plus rapide de la première séance d’essais libres de la saison. Fernando Alonso nouvellement arrivé chez Ferrari a réussi le 2e temps de cette séance, suivi de Robert Kubica (Renault) et de Felipe Massa (Ferrari).
| 1 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:56.583 | 18 | |
| 2 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:56.766 | 0.183 | 18 |
| 3 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1:57.041 | 0.458 | 19 |
| 4 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:57.055 | 0.472 | 19 |
| 5 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:57.068 | 0.485 | 19 |
| 6 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:57.163 | 0.580 | 19 |
| 7 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:57.194 | 0.611 | 19 |
| 8 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes Benz GP Ltd | 1:57.199 | 0.616 | 15 |
| 9 | 6 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:57.255 | 0.672 | 17 |
| 10 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes Benz GP Ltd | 1:57.662 | 1.079 | 16 |
| 11 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:57.722 | 1.139 | 18 |
| 12 | 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1:57.894 | 1.311 | 20 |
| 13 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:57.943 | 1.360 | 17 |
| 14 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:58.399 | 1.816 | 13 |
| 15 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:58.782 | 2.199 | 11 |
| 16 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:58.880 | 2.297 | 13 |
| 17 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 2:00.250 | 3.667 | 18 |
| 18 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 2:01.388 | 4.805 | 11 |
| 19 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 2:03.680 | 7.097 | 8 |
| 20 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 2:03.848 | 7.265 | 21 |
| 21 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 2:03.970 | 7.387 | 15 |
| 22 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | No time | 2 | |
| 23 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | No time | 3 | |
| 24 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | No time | 0 |