Sebastian Vettel kept the momentum going when he dominated Friday practice for the Formula One Indian Grand Prix, where he seeks a fourth straight season win.

Vettel, the world champion of the past two seasons and current overall leader, topped the morning session and then clocked a day-leading 1 minute 26.221 seconds in the afternoon.

Red Bull teammate Mark Webber was next in 1:26.339 followed by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (1:26.820) at the 5.125km Buddh Circuit, some 45 kilometres south of New Delhi.

Vettel overturned a 39-point deficit on Alonso by winning the past three races in Singapore, Japan and South Korea, and Friday’s results further confirmed Red Bull’s current dominance on the circuit where Vettel won the inaugural race last year.

“The track improvement was quite big today. It was dusty to start and improved lap by lap, so I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow the order is different, but we’ve had worse Fridays, so I am happy,” Vettel said.

Alonso was banking on the evolution of the track over the race weekend to perhaps bring Ferrari up to Red Bull’s speed.

“The track conditions, which change rapidly lap after lap, make it even more complicated to understand the situation relating to the hierarchy down the pit lane,” Alonso said.

Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen, who had not even sighted the track on a simulator before, was fifth fastest ahead of the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, as all the championship contenders proved competitive.

“We’re probably quick enough to qualify third or fourth fastest at the moment but, to go for pole, we’re going to really need to push hard in our development work tonight,” Hamilton said.

Vettel has 215 points in the standings with four races left.

Alonso is on 209, while Raikkonen (167), Hamilton (153), Webber (152) and Button (131) only appear to have a mathematical chance.

Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday and the race is Sunday.