A little water on the track – well, a deluge, actually – is always certain to cause chaos on a racing circuit and this Friday's practice sessions for the German F1 Grand Prix at Hockenheim was no exception.
Both Formula 1 practice sessions and those for the support races were as slippery as crushed bananas on peanut oil, with the result that drivers were seen spinning more often than driving in a straight line.
Chief casualty of the conditions was championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who bumped his McLaren MP4-25 hard into the barriers during morning practice. Lewis was unhurt but his car’s back end was substantially mullered, ensuring a busy few hours for his mechanics.
Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel played things cautiously during the morning, emerging 11th (Seb) and 14th (Mark) from a session topped by Adrian Sutil, of Force India.
But they showed their hand more clearly come 2pm, setting second and fourth-fastest times, having been among the quick boys throughout the session. Seb’s 1:16.294 was pipped by the 1:16.265 top time of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, while Mark’s 1:16.585 was also edged by a Ferrari driver: Felipe Massa on 1:16.438.
Hamilton was seventh quickest, despite his morning dramas, behind the Mercedes pair of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, while Jenson Button, currently second in the drivers’ championship, could only manage 15th best time.
Home-town boy Vettel said: “The conditions were not easy today, they were quite changeable, which made judging lap times difficult, but we got some dry running in the afternoon, which was important. I did a bit of rallying in P2 when I lost the rear going into the Stadium section, but fortunately I saved the car, so no problem.”
Webber added: “Selecting the right tyres at the right time wasn’t straightforward, but we got some good information out of P2 when the track was pretty dry. The car felt good but Ferrari look strong.”
Keep up with Sebastian and Mark at the German Grand Prix this weekend.
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