Rain makes for difficult session (German GP practice one interactive data)
There’s little that can be read into this morning’s wet practice session at the Hockenheimring.
If nothing else, the session gave us a chance to see how the different drivers copes with the challenging conditions and what kind of choices they would face in a rain-hit qualifying or race.
View interactive chart full screen
Tick/untick drivers’ names to show their laps, click and drag to zoom
With the rain stopping early on in the session the track got prrogressively drier and faster as can be seen from the times.
Giving an indication of how much faster, the first lap of the session was Jaime Alguersuari’s 1’41.068.
By the time 90 minutes was up Adrian Sutil had lowered the mark by 16 seconds. But he was still ten seconds off a typical dry lap time.
Some of the big names that appear towards the bottom of the times do so because they didn’t set a quick lap when the track was at its best – such as Michael Schumacher, who did his best time 47 minutes into the session.
Alguersuari was the first person to switch from wet weather tyres to intermediates. He made the change when the fastest time was Nico Rosberg’s 1’30.864. It took Alguersuari seven laps to beat that time.
If the teams find themselves facing similar conditions in qualifying expect them to start thinking about intermediate tyres when the front runners’ lap times drop towards 90 seconds.
They may well get a taste of that soon as thunderclouds are heading towards the Hockenheimring as the second practice session approaches.
Drivers’ best times
| Car | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Lap | At time | Laps | |
| 1 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’25.701 | 17 | 89 | 20 | |
| 2 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’26.850 | 1.149 | 26 | 84 | 27 |
| 3 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’26.936 | 1.235 | 15 | 91 | 16 |
| 4 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’26.947 | 1.246 | 18 | 89 | 21 |
| 5 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’26.948 | 1.247 | 17 | 87 | 21 |
| 6 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’27.448 | 1.747 | 19 | 83 | 20 |
| 7 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’28.114 | 2.413 | 24 | 69 | 31 |
| 8 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1’28.193 | 2.492 | 23 | 69 | 24 |
| 9 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1’28.300 | 2.599 | 16 | 87 | 19 |
| 10 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’28.486 | 2.785 | 22 | 71 | 23 |
| 11 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’28.735 | 3.034 | 18 | 62 | 21 |
| 12 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’28.735 | 3.034 | 20 | 92 | 21 |
| 13 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1’28.903 | 3.202 | 15 | 78 | 20 |
| 14 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’29.048 | 3.347 | 12 | 58 | 13 |
| 15 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1’29.280 | 3.579 | 16 | 91 | 17 |
| 16 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’29.366 | 3.665 | 25 | 61 | 34 |
| 17 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’29.429 | 3.728 | 6 | 67 | 7 |
| 18 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’29.500 | 3.799 | 17 | 89 | 19 |
| 19 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’29.684 | 3.983 | 11 | 62 | 15 |
| 20 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’29.690 | 3.989 | 16 | 60 | 17 |
| 21 | 19 | Fairuz Fauzy | Lotus-Cosworth | 1’30.938 | 5.237 | 26 | 90 | 27 |
| 22 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1’31.720 | 6.019 | 22 | 78 | 22 |
| 23 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’32.450 | 6.749 | 6 | 47 | 13 |
| 24 | 20 | Sakon Yamamoto | HRT-Cosworth | 1’32.791 | 7.090 | 25 | 91 | 26 |
Drivers’ ultimate laps
An ultimate lap is a driver’s three best sectors added together.
| Car | Driver | Car | Ultimate lap | Gap | Deficit to best | |
| 1 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’25.683 | 0.018 | |
| 2 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’26.836 | 1.153 | 0.014 |
| 3 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’26.844 | 1.161 | 0.104 |
| 4 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’26.936 | 1.253 | 0.000 |
| 5 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’26.947 | 1.264 | 0.000 |
| 6 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’27.356 | 1.673 | 0.092 |
| 7 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’27.471 | 1.788 | 1.264 |
| 8 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1’27.651 | 1.968 | 1.252 |
| 9 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1’27.906 | 2.223 | 0.394 |
| 10 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1’28.078 | 2.395 | 0.115 |
| 11 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’28.114 | 2.431 | 0.000 |
| 12 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’28.425 | 2.742 | 0.061 |
| 13 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’28.526 | 2.843 | 0.209 |
| 14 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’28.747 | 3.064 | 0.682 |
| 15 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’29.014 | 3.331 | 0.352 |
| 16 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’29.048 | 3.365 | 0.000 |
| 17 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’29.066 | 3.383 | 0.618 |
| 18 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1’29.280 | 3.597 | 0.000 |
| 19 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’29.377 | 3.694 | 0.123 |
| 20 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’29.690 | 4.007 | 0.000 |
| 21 | 19 | Fairuz Fauzy | Lotus-Cosworth | 1’30.879 | 5.196 | 0.059 |
| 22 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1’31.419 | 5.736 | 0.301 |
| 23 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’31.774 | 6.091 | 0.676 |
| 24 | 20 | Sakon Yamamoto | HRT-Cosworth | 1’32.260 | 6.577 | 0.531 |
2010 German Grand Prix
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- Ferrari: “Lauda missed out on a fine opportunity to keep his mouth shut”
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- From the stands: Tommy B and Katy watch the German GP at Hockenheim
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- F1 fans slam rigged German Grand Prix
- 2010 German Grand Prix – the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
- Who was the best driver of the German Grand Prix weekend? (Poll)
Image (C) www.mclaren.com
Calum said on 23rd July 2010, 12:14
I like the scatter graph, shows how inconsistent the rain makes everything.
John H said on 23rd July 2010, 12:33
If I were McLaren, I’d be sticking the old rear end back onto both cars and wait until a dry weekend before testing the EBD.
Sometimes pushing developments through at any cost is not the right game plan. This weekend is no time to attempt to set the cars up for a changeable race with such a radical new package, considering the old car was pretty much the quickest in the wet before.
Oliver said on 23rd July 2010, 16:30
Nice pic of Hamilton in a Mclaren.
Scatter plot looks like a cluster of stars. :-)