Fernando Alonso made the most of a mainly dry final practice session to head the times before the rain returned.
Following yesterday’s wet running the drivers were eager to make the most of dry conditions at the start of practice. By the end of the first half-hour most drivers had already logged more than ten laps.
Nico Rosberg led the way initially, reeling off a sequence of rapid laps in his Mercedes. Felipe Massa came close to beating his time before encountering traffic.
Some drivers preferred to use the soft tyres earlier in the session, such as Bruno Senna and Mark Webber, who took turns at the top of the times.
Shortly afterwards their team mates Pastor Maldonado and Sebastian Vettel traded fastest times, Vettel ending up 0.012s to the good with a 1’16.652.
Alonso beat that with a 1’16.124 on soft tyres but a few minutes later Lewis Hamilton was fractionally faster on the mediums – beating Alonso’s time by just 0.033s. Alonso returned to the track on soft tyres later and reclaimed the top spot by 0.077s.
The drivers explored the limits of the Hockenheimring’s run-offs, particularly at turn one where driver after driver ran wide onto the tarmac apron. Romain Grosjean was warned to stop going off at the corner only to run wide there once again.
Massa was also among the many drivers to run wide and he had an especially rough ride when he understeered off at turn 12, bouncing over gravel and grass.
Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button were among those who had not set quick times earlier in the session. They left the pits in the final ten minutes but now the rain returned with a vengeance. Schumacher was able to improve his time but Button slid wide at turn eight and ended up slowest of all.
The drivers returned to the pits as the rain hardened into a downpour and the clock ticked down the final minutes.
Combined German Grand Prix practice times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’17.370 | 1’31.207 | 1’16.014 | -1.356 | 55 |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’17.093 | 1’30.617 | 1’16.091 | -1.002 | 59 |
3 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’17.413 | 1’28.402 | 1’16.202 | -1.211 | 75 |
4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1’18.831 | 1’29.327 | 1’16.238 | -2.593 | 63 |
5 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’20.122 | 1’28.877 | 1’16.447 | -3.675 | 67 |
6 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’18.339 | 1’27.902 | 1’16.475 | -1.864 | 63 |
7 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’16.595 | 1’28.516 | 1’20.914 | +4.319 | 68 |
8 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1’18.020 | 1’27.476 | 1’16.664 | -1.356 | 52 |
9 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’17.995 | 1’29.719 | 1’16.771 | -1.224 | 52 |
10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’18.226 | 1’29.785 | 1’16.807 | -1.419 | 71 |
11 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1’30.291 | 1’16.930 | -13.361 | 45 | |
12 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’18.130 | 1’28.420 | 1’16.962 | -1.168 | 67 |
13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’17.599 | 1’28.495 | 1’17.033 | -0.566 | 65 |
14 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’30.437 | 1’17.148 | -13.289 | 38 | |
15 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’18.709 | 1’28.513 | 1’17.238 | -1.471 | 79 |
16 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’17.382 | 1’32.777 | 1’17.266 | -0.116 | 60 |
17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’19.039 | 1’29.364 | 1’17.419 | -1.62 | 83 |
18 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’17.915 | 1’27.564 | 1’17.491 | -0.424 | 77 |
19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1’19.963 | 1’30.331 | 1’18.366 | -1.597 | 71 |
20 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1’18.422 | 28 | |||
21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1’19.674 | 1’32.241 | 1’18.818 | -0.856 | 69 |
22 | Jules Bianchi | Force India-Mercedes | 1’18.972 | 21 | |||
23 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1’21.138 | 1’42.566 | 1’19.778 | -1.36 | 54 |
24 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’20.169 | 1’30.090 | 1’20.318 | +0.149 | 48 |
25 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’20.539 | 1’30.220 | 1’20.235 | -0.304 | 56 |
26 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1’32.349 | 1’20.741 | -11.608 | 39 | |
27 | Dani Clos | HRT-Cosworth | 1’21.740 | 27 |
2012 German Grand Prix
- Fans’ videos from the 2012 German Grand Prix
- German GP Driver of the Weekend: Fernando Alonso
- Montezemolo “more concerned” after German GP win
- Clear win for Ionutf1fanatic in Predictions Championship
- Top ten pictures from the 2012 German Grand Prix
Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo
Eggry (@eggry)
21st July 2012, 11:10
Again the gap between the option and the prime looks little…another the option=necessary evil weekend?
I can’t calculate exact pole time for prediction championship, it’s too changeable. Well, at least it’s almost certain that the race would be dry, so there’s no compromised or gamble setup this weekend. Just need sweet balancing…
Younger Hamii (@younger-hamii)
21st July 2012, 11:28
Interesting because we saw that with Fernando & Jenson at Silverstone in FP3 as well. Nice to see Sauber & Williams in the mix too, hope the conditions remain constant for quali, though it’s probably unlikely, If you ask me I think we’ve had enough rain shadowing practice & qualifying to an extent.
BasCB (@bascb)
21st July 2012, 11:13
Its nice that everyone now got a bit of time to see what their new bits do. But its hard to tell who is fast and who isn’t with the varying time when they set their fastest laps.
I just hope it won’t be too wet in the afternoon, only a bit slippery. And see some superb slippery track driving in qualifying! A Regenmeister pole would be apt here wouldn’t it :-)
Eggry (@eggry)
21st July 2012, 11:16
Schumacher’s pole would be welcomed by everyone. I’m not sure about Vettel though! :D
BasCB (@bascb)
21st July 2012, 11:28
Vettel will have an off, damage the car and bring it home in 9th or 10th.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
21st July 2012, 11:34
@bascb Correct regarding the different times the fastest laps were set. Different tyres in the mix also doesn’t help understand just what’s going on. I would like a dry qualifying if I’m honest, wanna see where Caterham and McLaren are!
Nickpkr234
21st July 2012, 11:13
where can I see Buttoms interview of what happen in the car that feel so nice and is great and how confortable he is to WDC ?
Good job Perez
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
21st July 2012, 11:18
I’m having a little trouble understanding exactly what you mean by this, but I think the gist of it is that you are criticising Button for claiming he is comfortable in the car and can get back into the championship fight, only to set the slowest time of the session?
If so, I suggest you re-read the article. Keith makes it pretty clear that Button did not emerge from the pits until late in the session, and by the time he did so, adverse weather had set in, thus limiting his ability to set a competitive lap time. He ran wide – as many other drivers did – on what was set to be his fastest lap, thereby casting him to the bottom of the pile by the end of the session.
james2488 (@james2488)
21st July 2012, 11:59
equally the fact that JB is bottom suggest there are other variables that have affected his time, at the same time JB is just not gd enough with a unbalanced car, when he has the perfect car he is great, when theres a problem u might as well put luca badoer in for a session, therefore he will never to a great driver until he finds away to do well whatever he has got, like alonso