The extent of the rain that fell during practice at the Hockenheimring seemed to catch the teams by surprise.
Notably, none of those who usually run test drivers in the first session chose to postpone their runs until the second, which would have given their regular drivers the benefit of a drier track, as we have seen them do before.
Mark Webber admitted the teams had been caught out by the conditions: “That was a bit unreal.
“We didn’t expect the rain to be this bad today, but it was quite heavy at times – we even used the extreme full wet tyre. That’s two races in a row now with tricky conditions.”
They all had to make do with what little dry running they had in the first session, particularly those such as McLaren who had major updates to evaluate. Lewis Hamilton said the team were pleased with what they’ve seen from their revised sidepods and other upgrades so far:
“The men and women back at the factory did an incredible job to get all the upgrades to the track this weekend – they all deserve a big pat on the back for that. It’s quite a positive step. It’s still difficult to accurately predict was sort of a step we’ve taken as we couldn’t back-to-back between the old and new components, but it’s definitely a step forward.
“Hopefully, we’ll get more of an indication as the weekend progresses – although, with more wet weather predicted for tomorrow, it might not be until Sunday that we can tell what we’ve got. Still, the car doesn’t feel bad at all.”
However the complicated rear wing arrangement seen on Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus will not be raced here. Trackside operations director Alan Permane said: “Both cars ran with aero updates, which were rather more visible on one car than the other.
“We’ve seen encouraging signs from our latest prototype concept and although we won’t race it here, it’s likely to make another appearance during practice in Budapest.”
Today the cars were close to the pace seen at the track in 2010. Jenson Button’s fastest lap of 1’16.595 was three-tenths off the best time set on Friday during F1’s last visit to Hockenheim.
On that occasion Sebastian Vettel’s pole position lap came within half a second of beating the track record set by Michael Schumacher in 2004. If we get dry running tomorrow the top teams may get close to that again, but the forecast at the moment is for more rain.
Here’s the data from today’s practice, mostly from the first session which was the drier of the two.
Longest stint comparison – first practice
This chart shows all the drivers’ lap times (in seconds) during their longest unbroken stint:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
Sebastian Vettel | 82.513 | 80.517 | 79.264 | 78.764 | 79.441 | |||||
Mark Webber | 83.066 | 81.718 | 81.509 | 81.642 | 81.518 | 81.336 | 84.233 | 85.835 | 81.46 | |
Jenson Button | 80.497 | 80.322 | 79.925 | 79.833 | 79.92 | 79.963 | 80.086 | |||
Lewis Hamilton | 77.093 | 77.263 | 86.036 | 86.222 | ||||||
Fernando Alonso | 81.766 | 77.37 | 83.385 | 80.408 | 78.799 | 82.424 | ||||
Felipe Massa | 78.53 | 78.31 | 80.441 | 78.051 | 77.995 | 88.296 | ||||
Michael Schumacher | 77.649 | 77.382 | 82.598 | 84.309 | 87.588 | 82.456 | 83.615 | 109.314 | ||
Nico Rosberg | 79.559 | 84.862 | 80.053 | 80.488 | 80.49 | 90.682 | 86.692 | |||
Kimi Raikkonen | 83.564 | 84.987 | 85.908 | 78.831 | ||||||
Romain Grosjean | 78.508 | 83.197 | 81.336 | 80.975 | 78.13 | 84.157 | 82.114 | |||
Jules Bianchi | 79.173 | 78.972 | 91.306 | 90.151 | 83.106 | 87.958 | ||||
Nico Hulkenberg | 79.804 | 79.111 | 81.314 | 78.103 | 81.905 | 77.599 | ||||
Kamui Kobayashi | 81.147 | 78.889 | 83 | 91.246 | 78.226 | |||||
Sergio Perez | 82.185 | 81.109 | 79.242 | 81.685 | 79.687 | |||||
Daniel Ricciardo | 79.676 | 79.16 | 78.709 | 82.383 | 80.438 | 82.772 | 82.845 | 87.737 | 84.268 | |
Jean-Eric Vergne | 79.742 | 79.52 | 79.039 | 82.22 | 79.443 | 79.097 | 80.243 | 80.01 | 87.121 | 80.846 |
Pastor Maldonado | 78.67 | 86.979 | 78.02 | 86.764 | 84.182 | |||||
Valtteri Bottas | 84.148 | 80.788 | 79.969 | 81.036 | 80.515 | 79.768 | 80.043 | 87.863 | 79.044 | |
Heikki Kovalainen | 81.675 | 80.072 | 81.841 | 86.997 | 85.223 | 87.463 | 83.341 | |||
Vitaly Petrov | 82.665 | 79.798 | 87.676 | 79.801 | 79.674 | 95.84 | 96.011 | |||
Pedro de la Rosa | 85.313 | 83.643 | 95.237 | 83.032 | 82.416 | 84.538 | ||||
Dani Clos | 84.84 | 85.047 | 86.459 | 86.535 | 86.422 | 88.146 | 85.644 | 85.343 | ||
Timo Glock | 81.307 | 81.189 | 85.534 | 80.973 | 90.01 | 80.539 | ||||
Charles Pic | 90.187 | 89.937 | 81.262 | 81.772 | 82.843 | 87.093 | 91.515 | 83.179 |
Sector times and ultimate lap times – first practice
Car | Driver | Car | Sector 1 | Sector 2 | Sector 3 | Ultimate lap | Gap | Deficit to best | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 16.785 | 35.944 | 23.866 | 1’16.595 | 0.000 | |
2 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 16.892 | 35.942 | 24.062 | 1’16.896 | 0.301 | 0.197 |
3 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 16.806 | 36.042 | 24.244 | 1’17.092 | 0.497 | 0.278 |
4 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 16.874 | 36.253 | 24.049 | 1’17.176 | 0.581 | 0.206 |
5 | 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 16.794 | 36.438 | 23.980 | 1’17.212 | 0.617 | 0.201 |
6 | 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 16.898 | 36.453 | 24.110 | 1’17.461 | 0.866 | 0.669 |
7 | 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 17.180 | 36.237 | 24.182 | 1’17.599 | 1.004 | 0.000 |
8 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 17.049 | 36.468 | 24.214 | 1’17.731 | 1.136 | 0.289 |
9 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 16.949 | 36.308 | 24.525 | 1’17.782 | 1.187 | 0.133 |
10 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 17.048 | 36.410 | 24.418 | 1’17.876 | 1.281 | 0.119 |
11 | 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 17.176 | 36.462 | 24.359 | 1’17.997 | 1.402 | 0.425 |
12 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 17.042 | 36.305 | 24.683 | 1’18.030 | 1.435 | 0.196 |
13 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 17.146 | 36.307 | 24.590 | 1’18.043 | 1.448 | 0.296 |
14 | 9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 16.970 | 36.197 | 25.343 | 1’18.510 | 1.915 | 0.321 |
15 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 17.313 | 36.720 | 24.613 | 1’18.646 | 2.051 | 0.063 |
16 | 11 | Jules Bianchi | Force India-Mercedes | 17.397 | 36.584 | 24.673 | 1’18.654 | 2.059 | 0.318 |
17 | 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 17.410 | 36.693 | 24.672 | 1’18.775 | 2.180 | 0.264 |
18 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 17.553 | 36.970 | 25.041 | 1’19.564 | 2.969 | 0.110 |
19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 17.599 | 37.215 | 24.894 | 1’19.708 | 3.113 | 0.255 |
20 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 17.520 | 37.570 | 24.749 | 1’19.839 | 3.244 | 0.283 |
21 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 17.521 | 37.484 | 25.164 | 1’20.169 | 3.574 | 0.000 |
22 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 17.721 | 37.521 | 25.275 | 1’20.517 | 3.922 | 0.022 |
23 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 17.878 | 37.519 | 25.674 | 1’21.071 | 4.476 | 0.067 |
24 | 23 | Dani Clos | HRT-Cosworth | 17.996 | 38.009 | 25.735 | 1’21.740 | 5.145 | 0.000 |
Complete practice times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | Total laps | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’16.595 | 1’28.516 | 43 | ||
2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’17.093 | 1’30.617 | 38 | ||
3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’17.370 | 1’31.207 | 41 | ||
4 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’17.382 | 1’32.777 | 38 | ||
5 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’17.413 | 1’28.402 | 54 | ||
6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’17.599 | 1’28.495 | 39 | ||
7 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’17.915 | 1’27.564 | 51 | ||
8 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’17.995 | 1’29.719 | 37 | ||
9 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1’18.020 | 1’27.476 | 34 | ||
10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’18.130 | 1’28.420 | 41 | ||
11 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’18.226 | 1’29.785 | 46 | ||
12 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’18.339 | 1’27.902 | 45 | ||
13 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1’18.422 | 28 | |||
14 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’18.709 | 1’28.513 | 53 | ||
15 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1’18.831 | 1’29.327 | 36 | ||
16 | Jules Bianchi | Force India-Mercedes | 1’18.972 | 21 | |||
17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’19.039 | 1’29.364 | 60 | ||
18 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1’19.674 | 1’32.241 | 46 | ||
19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1’19.963 | 1’30.331 | 50 | ||
20 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’20.122 | 1’28.877 | 48 | ||
21 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’20.169 | 1’30.090 | 39 | ||
22 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’20.539 | 1’30.220 | 34 | ||
23 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1’21.138 | 1’42.566 | 32 | ||
24 | Dani Clos | HRT-Cosworth | 1’21.740 | 27 | |||
25 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1’30.291 | 22 | |||
26 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’30.437 | 14 | |||
27 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1’32.349 | 17 |
Speed trap – first practice
# | Driver | Car | Engine | Max speed | Gap | |
1 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | Mercedes | 316.9 | |
2 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | Mercedes | 315.6 | 1.3 |
3 | 9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | Renault | 314.7 | 2.2 |
4 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren | Mercedes | 314.5 | 2.4 |
5 | 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | Renault | 313.9 | 3 |
6 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | Renault | 313.8 | 3.1 |
7 | 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | Mercedes | 313.8 | 3.1 |
8 | 11 | Jules Bianchi | Force India | Mercedes | 313.7 | 3.2 |
9 | 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | Ferrari | 313.7 | 3.2 |
10 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | Mercedes | 313.4 | 3.5 |
11 | 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | Renault | 313.3 | 3.6 |
12 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia | Cosworth | 312.9 | 4 |
13 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia | Cosworth | 312.5 | 4.4 |
14 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | Ferrari | 312.5 | 4.4 |
15 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | Renault | 312.2 | 4.7 |
16 | 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 312 | 4.9 |
17 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 311.9 | 5 |
18 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | Renault | 311.8 | 5.1 |
19 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham | Renault | 311.4 | 5.5 |
20 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | Ferrari | 309.8 | 7.1 |
21 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | Ferrari | 309.2 | 7.7 |
22 | 23 | Dani Clos | HRT | Cosworth | 307.6 | 9.3 |
23 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT | Cosworth | 307.5 | 9.4 |
24 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | Renault | 305.6 | 11.3 |
2012 German Grand Prix
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Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo
marcusbreese (@marcusbreese)
20th July 2012, 18:14
Still looks as though Caterham are stuck in the wilderness.
Badger74 (@badger74)
20th July 2012, 18:44
Button’s long run looks consistent and from memory more competitive than the equivalent run at Valencia?
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
20th July 2012, 18:44
Happy for the spectators that at least the drivers did plenty of laps in the wet conditions.
Girts (@girts)
20th July 2012, 18:52
The best thing about today’s rain was that it once again shattered Pirelli’s plans to test the more conservative tyres. Moreover, tomorrow it might rain again so the teams will have [almost] no clue how the tyres will behave in the dry race conditions on Sunday. And I will most likely score around 3 points in the predictions championship again. Yippee!
Nick.UK (@)
20th July 2012, 21:06
It wouldn’t be so bad if the rain was on race day. It’s just frustrating when it’s during practice, less to watch and less conclusions to draw. I really want to know if Caterham’s upgrade package has yeilded any big performance boost.
sagar atgamkar (@sagaratgamkar)
20th July 2012, 21:47
its seems CATERHAM is one team everyone wants to see do better. or is it just because of KOV???
AlonsoWDC (@alonsowdc)
21st July 2012, 2:12
Well it certainly isn’t because of Petrov’s sterling talent.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
21st July 2012, 10:59
@sagaratgamkar I think it might be to do with just how serious they are about it. They seem to have the best infrastructure, drivers, personnel and car. They’re (slowly) making the best progress to the midfield and have been consistently doing so.
xeroxpt (@)
21st July 2012, 3:29
About lotus new updates, i have an different guess than SKY.
Like Sky I believe that this new solution is targeted for qually and for aero purposes rather than boosting the DRS. My guess is that when the DRS is activated the air passes through the now clear slot on the main plane travels through the pillar beneath the main plane forward, and disables via perhaps a butterfly valve the passing of air from the “ears” located on each side of the overhead air intake, decreasing drag and cutting the air flow that was being channeled to the small rear wing above the suspension, if so this new upgrade is meant to deliver more downforce into the rear of the car, its linked to the DRS to cut the drag but that maybe a problem when racing because off course the DRS rules, but i also believe that the system is easily tweaked for the race i dont think they’ll want the added drag and the benefits of more rear downforce.
Eggry (@eggry)
21st July 2012, 4:56
Jenson Button’s lap times are impressive. almost flat line. I don’t know it’s good sign though.
Eggry (@eggry)
21st July 2012, 4:58
Ferrari still lacks maximum speed.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
21st July 2012, 11:04
@eggry Nothing worrying though. RBR usually occupy that spot, especially last year.
Eggry (@eggry)
21st July 2012, 11:07
@AndrewTanner I know but Ferrari themselves always saying they lack top speed, so I don’t think it’s side effect of too much downforce…Good news is F2012 is quite good in terms of downforce.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
21st July 2012, 11:09
@eggry Yep, which is always welcome from Ferrari, considering that aero is usually considered their weakness.
BasCB (@bascb)
21st July 2012, 9:39
Edd Straw just tweeted, that Webber will get a post qualifying penalty as well (making it 3 of the top runners), apparently details to be shortly publicized (another one with the gearbox?)
BasCB (@bascb)
21st July 2012, 9:45
yep, not its confirmed that Webber had a new gearbox and gets a 5 place grid drop too, after Grosjean and Rosberg that makes 3.