Montmelo: Sebastian Vettel's day ended with the four-time defending Formula One champion hitching a ride on a scooter after his Red Bull puttered out.
Lewis Hamilton finished Friday's opening day of practice at the Spanish Grand Prix with the top times from both training sessions. The British driver is looking to add to his three poles positions and hat-trick of wins after four races this season.
Mercedes team-mate and F1 leader Nico Rosberg set the afternoon's second best time after his crew fixed a cooling issue.
Vettel was running through his fifth lap on the sunny and dry 4.6-kilometer (2.9-mile) Circuito de Barcelona-Catalunya when his Red Bull came to a halt. He then helped push his RB10 out of the path of his rivals before a group of fans gathered at the fence to take photographs of the champion using a fire extinguisher on the rear of his malfunctioning car.
After Vettel was whisked back to the paddock on the back of a scooter, Hamilton clocked the fastest lap time in the opening session and then bettered that by almost 1.5 seconds in the second with a mark of 1 minute, 25.524 seconds.
Red Bull said an electrical problem that "damaged the wiring" of Vettel's car meant he couldn't return for the afternoon practice session. That left Vettel with only one session on Saturday before qualifying.
Red Bull had given Vettel's car an older chassis in a move the German called a "sanity check" to try to find an elusive answer to his car's lack of pace.
The Austrian team renowned for its design had a bigger problem than speed, however, when Vettel was left stranded just after the fifth turn. Vettel is having his worst session at Red Bull with only one podium finish so far and sits in a distant fifth place in the standings. He has even had to let new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo pass him twice during the last two races.
And Ricciardo emerged from the opening day of practice as the closest thing the grid can offer as a threat to the Mercedes duo by recording the third best time in both sessions at almost a second behind Hamilton.
Hamilton trails Rosberg by four points despite having won the last three races in front of his teammate. The pair have won all four races and taken all four pole positions this year.
Hamilton hasn't lost a step after a three-week break and showed that the other teams have yet to make headway despite their upgrades for the start of the season's run of European events.
Last-year's race winner, Fernando Alonso, had the fourth best effort in both sessions, while Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen could do no better than fifth in the afternoon.
Pablo Maldonado of Lotus recorded the most laps through both hour-and-a-half sessions with a total of 76. The early session to prepare for Sunday's race featured some close calls.
Sergio Perez had to box when the left mirror on his Force India car became detached. The Mexican driver had to grab it and drive one-handed while coming in. Sauber test driver Giedo Van der Garde survived a bigger scare when he told his team he had "a break failure" and ran off course, barely missing the wall.
In the second session, Romain Grosjean's Lotus stalled at the end of the pitlane, while Jean-Eric Vergne lost the right rear wheel of his Toro Rosso.
Max Chilton twice had to come in due to engine trouble before a piece of his Marussia went flying on his next trip out. He ended the day by driving into the sand.
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