The F1 drivers’ threat to boycott the German Grand Prix if the tyre failures seen at Silverstone recur meant today’s two practice session were anxiously watched for any sign of a repeat.
Fortunately there was none. Although we can expect the tyres will come under greater strain as more rubber goes down on the track and temperatures rise, the early signs are F1 is in no danger of a boycott.
Conditions at the track today were cloudy and slightly cool. That is forecast to change tomorrow with higher temperatures expected. So drivers were cautious about reading too much into how the changes to the tyres will affect the competitive order this weekend.
“They are different and require a different set-up, so today was a good opportunity to learn something,” said Nico Rosberg of the revised Pirellis. “We want to understand them quicker and better than the other teams.”
“Generally it seems that we are quick again over one lap and the long run was not bad. It’s difficult to predict where we are, because you never know exactly about the fuel levels of the others. Also it’s going to get warmer on Sunday and this could change also the whole picture again. ”
Mercedes had a second over their rivals in the first session but in second practice Red Bull led the way with less than nine-tenths covering them, Mercedes, Lotus and Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel said: “I wasn’t so happy with the car this morning and Mercedes were quick, but in the afternoon we were in better shape.”
Ferrari were unable to make any progress with Fernando Alonso’s car in the first session due to an electrical problem. It came at an unfortunate time for the team as they try to understand why their cars were off the pace at Silverstone. Pat Fry said they had completed “nowhere near as much” of their programme with Alonso’s car as they intended to.
Lotus were slightly quicker than Ferrari but have decided not to use their Drag Reduction Device for the rest of the weekend.
The second practice session showed that while the medium tyre is very durable, the soft has a very short life. Jenson Button said: “It seems that the idea behind the two compounds is to give us a qualifying tyre that doesn’t last long – the [soft] – and a race tyre – the [medium].”
“It’s not a bad compromise, we just need to deal with the tyre not lasting too long on Sunday.”
According to Pirelli the performance gap between the two compounds is as much as 1.5 seconds.
It was a light day for an unwell Jules Bianchi – Rodolfo Gonzalez drove his car in the first session. “It was already scheduled some time ago that Rodolfo would drive in FP1 and as things turned out that enabled me to rest and hopefully feel better,” said Bianchi.
“This afternoon I completed two runs in FP2 – ten laps in total – but I was not feeling my best, so it was better to stop and properly recuperate. I hope after a good night’s sleep I will be back on form tomorrow.”
Here’s all the data from the first two practice sessions:
Longest stint comparison
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 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | |
Sebastian Vettel | 96.344 | 96.291 | 96.922 | 96.067 | 96.364 | 96.381 | 99.451 | 96.181 | 96.295 | 96.945 | 96.011 | ||||||||||||
Mark Webber | 97.173 | 97.089 | 96.695 | 96.634 | 97.363 | 97.682 | 96.767 | 96.562 | 96.451 | 96.258 | 96.595 | 96.376 | 96.211 | 97.849 | 96.321 | 96.911 | 96.601 | 100.041 | 97.598 | 96.401 | 96.17 | 96.183 | 96.368 |
Fernando Alonso | 96.542 | 96.49 | 97.306 | 97.171 | 96.657 | 101.052 | 97.029 | ||||||||||||||||
Felipe Massa | 96.217 | 95.916 | 96.331 | 96.633 | 100.519 | 97.454 | 100.778 | 98.448 | 99.249 | ||||||||||||||
Jenson Button | 97.852 | 98.624 | 97.816 | 97.878 | 99.457 | 97.863 | 97.87 | 98.136 | 98.883 | ||||||||||||||
Sergio Perez | 98.515 | 98.564 | 98.356 | 98.09 | 98.145 | 98.01 | 98.498 | 98.531 | 100.024 | 100.548 | 98.364 | 98.248 | 98.95 | ||||||||||
Kimi Raikkonen | 96.359 | 96.773 | 97.458 | 98.513 | 99.282 | 104.204 | 99.356 | ||||||||||||||||
Romain Grosjean | 96.972 | 96.717 | 96.57 | 97.425 | 98.704 | 101.035 | 97.543 | 98.263 | |||||||||||||||
Nico Rosberg | 97.575 | 96.4 | 96.712 | 96.998 | 98.93 | 96.77 | 96.942 | 98.286 | 96.938 | 101.642 | 100.907 | 97.453 | 97.393 | 97.307 | |||||||||
Lewis Hamilton | 99.494 | 96.668 | 92.749 | 99.887 | 92.388 | 92.193 | 102.728 | 92.031 | |||||||||||||||
Nico Hulkenberg | 98.19 | 98.269 | 99.882 | 98.161 | 98.013 | 98.012 | 97.666 | 97.878 | 97.784 | 98.086 | 98.349 | 98.045 | 98.122 | 98.178 | 98.193 | 98.386 | 98.782 | 98.843 | 99.284 | 99.784 | 99.199 | ||
Esteban Gutierrez | 97.419 | 99.026 | 99.616 | 98.659 | 97.053 | 97.106 | 96.991 | 97.351 | 96.558 | 96.928 | 97.149 | 97.573 | 96.877 | 97.122 | 99.514 | 97.002 | |||||||
Paul di Resta | 97.342 | 97.181 | 98.63 | 99.044 | 98.343 | 101.858 | 99.123 | 99.031 | 99.13 | 100.087 | 99.65 | 99.708 | 99.845 | ||||||||||
Adrian Sutil | 96.806 | 96.95 | 97.709 | 98.86 | 99.56 | 100.255 | 107.575 | 100.363 | |||||||||||||||
Pastor Maldonado | 99.966 | 99.597 | 101.695 | 100.8 | 101.69 | 105.125 | 101.581 | ||||||||||||||||
Valtteri Bottas | 99.891 | 99.482 | 99.23 | 99.316 | 99.099 | 100.613 | 99.466 | 99.783 | 101.441 | 100.975 | 99.676 | ||||||||||||
Jean-Eric Vergne | 98.754 | 98.642 | 98.476 | 98.246 | 98.442 | 99.326 | 98.862 | 100.244 | 98.498 | 98.55 | |||||||||||||
Daniel Ricciardo | 98.475 | 98.134 | 98.041 | 98.006 | 97.909 | 98.262 | 98.462 | 98.727 | 98.305 | 98.445 | 98.032 | 98.039 | 97.986 | ||||||||||
Charles Pic | 99.021 | 99.152 | 98.535 | 98.472 | 98.279 | 98.722 | 99.559 | 99.23 | 102.428 | 101.247 | 100.075 | 102.662 | |||||||||||
Giedo van der Garde | 100.389 | 100.173 | 99.695 | 99.662 | 99.617 | 99.149 | 98.869 | 99.025 | 99.6 | 98.988 | 99.11 | 99.04 | 98.983 | 99.049 | 99.579 | ||||||||
Jules Bianchi | 97.242 | 96.544 | 106.527 | 95.818 | |||||||||||||||||||
Max Chilton | 102.097 | 100.718 | 100.392 | 101.553 | 100.102 | 100.515 | 100.559 | 101.371 | 100.976 | 101.82 |
Sector times and ultimate lap times – second practice
Pos | No. | Driver | Car | S1 | S2 | S2 | Ultimate | Gap | Deficit to best |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 29.586 (3) | 37.698 (1) | 23.080 (1) | 1’30.364 | 0.052 | |
2 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 29.534 (1) | 37.833 (4) | 23.284 (4) | 1’30.651 | 0.287 | 0.032 |
3 | 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 29.584 (2) | 37.865 (6) | 23.202 (2) | 1’30.651 | 0.287 | 0.000 |
4 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 29.667 (5) | 37.860 (5) | 23.316 (6) | 1’30.843 | 0.479 | 0.000 |
5 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 29.685 (6) | 37.798 (3) | 23.365 (8) | 1’30.848 | 0.484 | 0.000 |
6 | 4 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 29.786 (7) | 37.935 (7) | 23.265 (3) | 1’30.986 | 0.622 | 0.073 |
7 | 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 29.955 (10) | 37.767 (2) | 23.299 (5) | 1’31.021 | 0.657 | 0.035 |
8 | 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 29.638 (4) | 38.223 (11) | 23.381 (9) | 1’31.242 | 0.878 | 0.062 |
9 | 15 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 29.854 (8) | 38.091 (8) | 23.427 (10) | 1’31.372 | 1.008 | 0.452 |
10 | 5 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 29.953 (9) | 38.174 (10) | 23.441 (11) | 1’31.568 | 1.204 | 0.000 |
11 | 14 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 30.005 (11) | 38.328 (13) | 23.464 (12) | 1’31.797 | 1.433 | 0.000 |
12 | 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 30.253 (15) | 38.263 (12) | 23.339 (7) | 1’31.855 | 1.491 | 0.000 |
13 | 18 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 30.180 (14) | 38.154 (9) | 23.721 (16) | 1’32.055 | 1.691 | 0.000 |
14 | 6 | Sergio Perez | McLaren-Mercedes | 30.030 (12) | 38.432 (16) | 23.624 (13) | 1’32.086 | 1.722 | 0.000 |
15 | 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 30.260 (16) | 38.358 (15) | 23.707 (14) | 1’32.325 | 1.961 | 0.170 |
16 | 12 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 30.280 (17) | 38.357 (14) | 23.875 (19) | 1’32.512 | 2.148 | 0.250 |
17 | 16 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 30.158 (13) | 38.772 (17) | 23.756 (18) | 1’32.686 | 2.322 | 0.194 |
18 | 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 30.298 (18) | 38.807 (18) | 23.714 (15) | 1’32.819 | 2.455 | 0.060 |
19 | 20 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 30.663 (19) | 39.160 (21) | 23.745 (17) | 1’33.568 | 3.204 | 0.127 |
20 | 21 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 30.715 (20) | 39.108 (20) | 23.962 (20) | 1’33.785 | 3.421 | 0.019 |
21 | 22 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 30.958 (22) | 39.090 (19) | 23.969 (21) | 1’34.017 | 3.653 | 0.000 |
22 | 23 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 30.850 (21) | 39.422 (22) | 24.181 (22) | 1’34.453 | 4.089 | 0.214 |
Complete practice times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | Total laps | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’33.213 | 1’30.416 | 59 | ||
2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’31.973 | 1’30.651 | 63 | ||
3 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’32.789 | 1’30.683 | 63 | ||
4 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’33.260 | 1’30.843 | 59 | ||
5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1’32.956 | 1’30.848 | 49 | ||
6 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’31.056 | 41 | |||
7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’33.065 | 1’31.059 | 59 | ||
8 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’31.754 | 1’31.304 | 60 | ||
9 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’33.139 | 1’31.568 | 61 | ||
10 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’33.493 | 1’31.797 | 58 | ||
11 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’32.822 | 1’31.824 | 50 | ||
12 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’33.901 | 1’31.855 | 65 | ||
13 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’33.976 | 1’32.055 | 65 | ||
14 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 1’33.456 | 1’32.086 | 54 | ||
15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’33.810 | 1’32.495 | 59 | ||
16 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’34.437 | 1’32.762 | 68 | ||
17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1’34.200 | 1’32.879 | 57 | ||
18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1’34.025 | 1’32.880 | 56 | ||
19 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 1’35.674 | 1’33.695 | 61 | ||
20 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1’36.078 | 1’33.804 | 63 | ||
21 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’34.017 | 10 | |||
22 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’35.987 | 1’34.667 | 58 | ||
23 | Rodolfo Gonzalez | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’37.459 | 21 |
Speed trap
# | Driver | Car | Engine | Max speed (kph) | Gap | |
1 | 5 | Jenson Button | McLaren | Mercedes | 303.3 | |
2 | 6 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | Mercedes | 303.2 | 0.1 |
3 | 14 | Paul di Resta | Force India | Mercedes | 302.4 | 0.9 |
4 | 15 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | Mercedes | 302.2 | 1.1 |
5 | 23 | Max Chilton | Marussia | Cosworth | 301 | 2.3 |
6 | 18 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 301 | 2.3 |
7 | 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | Mercedes | 300.7 | 2.6 |
8 | 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Mercedes | 300.4 | 2.9 |
9 | 16 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | Renault | 300.3 | 3 |
10 | 21 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | Renault | 300 | 3.3 |
11 | 22 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | Cosworth | 299.9 | 3.4 |
12 | 4 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | Ferrari | 299.7 | 3.6 |
13 | 20 | Charles Pic | Caterham | Renault | 299.5 | 3.8 |
14 | 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | Ferrari | 299 | 4.3 |
15 | 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | Renault | 298.5 | 4.8 |
16 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | Renault | 297.1 | 6.2 |
17 | 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 296.4 | 6.9 |
18 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | Renault | 296.4 | 6.9 |
19 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | Renault | 296.3 | 7 |
20 | 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | Ferrari | 296.2 | 7.1 |
21 | 12 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | Ferrari | 295.4 | 7.9 |
22 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | Renault | 295.2 | 8.1 |
2013 German Grand Prix
Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo
carbon_fibre (@carbon_fibre)
5th July 2013, 18:06
Did I read correctly? Lotus won’t use DRS for the race?
Manished
5th July 2013, 18:10
DRD….not DRS.
however their top gear setting seems to put themselve on vulnerable position on DRS zone when try to overtake car in front
carbon_fibre (@carbon_fibre)
5th July 2013, 18:16
Aahhh. So, DRD=DDRS.
Garion Higgs (@gazz)
5th July 2013, 22:48
Speaking of DRD, did anyone notice Mercedes running a variant of it this morning, or was it just me?
JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
5th July 2013, 22:50
Technically, no. What was DDRS last season is completely different from the DRD. The DDRS used a hole which the airflow could then be sucked into once the DRS was open, and then flow into the front wing to stall that as well. Whereas the DRD is completely passive in that it reduces drag upon the car reaching a certain speed, which is why it is so difficult to get right.
vickyy (@vickyy)
5th July 2013, 18:13
wow..Hulk seems good in long runs, hard to believe to see that in this year’s Sauber.
Sankalp Sharma (@sankalp88)
5th July 2013, 18:16
RBs’ stints look pretty consistent. Why are the Merc’s so erratic.
caci99 (@)
5th July 2013, 18:48
Looking at the graph, I don’t think the longest stints were all done on the same tire. It would have been useful to have two separate graphs, one for the option and one for the prime tire. Otherwise it is hard to read it as it is.
HK (@me4me)
5th July 2013, 19:24
Very impressive stint by Webber. Wish he’d gone further and see how long the Medium’s really last
kowa
5th July 2013, 19:35
what a bunch of cowards.
They only say that f1 is dangerous, to make it more appealing to the fans, because when they feel the real danger of a blow up they menace with a boycott.
What the drivers of the past would think a bout these prima donnas. they would be ashamed. I know i am.
Dave (@)
5th July 2013, 19:42
So you want to go back to the days of multiple fatalities every season? You’d be the only one.
Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
5th July 2013, 20:03
Lol plus a one!
minnis (@minnis)
5th July 2013, 20:30
I take it you’ve never had a tyre blow explode on the motorway then?
Now consider these drivers doing nearly triple the speed?
Look at what happened to Massa when a 1kg spring struck his helmet. The total weight of the rubber, metal belts etc are easily more than 1kg.
These guys are not cowards, they just don’t want to die.
Dave (@)
6th July 2013, 0:47
I’ve experienced a tyre failure at 50, so I’m able to expand on @minnis assertion you don’t want to experience it. I held on only because the blow was preceded by a major vibration, so I was expecting the failure. Had it been unexpected, I fear I would have inadvertently tested the steel barriers.
Shreyas Mohanty (@)
5th July 2013, 21:29
Are you kidding. Try to imagine your car going out of control at 300kph. They are human beings. They have families and loved ones. They don’t want to die. That doesn’t make them cowards. People must be ashamed you live amongst us. I KNOW I AM.
xjr15jaaag (@xjr15jaaag)
5th July 2013, 22:01
They are far from cowards; they frequently race cars millimeters away from each other without wanting to back down; that is extremely brave.
They don’t want to die.
is that too much to ask?
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
5th July 2013, 19:56
It’s a bit hard to read the long-run performance from the session, but Webber’s medium-tyre run was very impressive. It’s difficult to judge how far away Mercedes are, both on the long runs and on the short, because Hamilton was complaining of choosing a wrong setup direction for FP2, and Rosberg did two longish runs, split over soft and medium compounds.
I followed the session and got the impression that Mercedes was quite a bit slower than Red Bull over the long run, though. However, this was also the case in Silverstone, and on Sunday there was little to choose between the two teams.
Strategy is going to be interesting on Sunday. With the soft tyre good for no more than four laps, and perhaps usable for six, it will be interesting to see who uses mediums in Q2 tomorrow. It could be worth a gamble for Alonso, if he doesn’t anticipate doing better than fifth anyway. Equally, perhaps for Red Bull and Mercedes it will be tempting to run mediums and still qualify around P5, though I suspect those two teams will use the softs to fight for pole. Still, if all other teams qualify on the mediums, they can too.
@HoHum (@hohum)
5th July 2013, 23:44
Surely they would be equally keen to save the mediums for the race and just keep 1 set of options in case there is a similar late race opportunity to change as in silverstone.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
5th July 2013, 20:03
Could Marussia have put Speedy back in the car, to get some more laps in, after Bianchi had to stop – or do the rules change after first practice, for substituting drivers?
Spinmastermic (@spinmastermic)
5th July 2013, 22:54
Unfortunately drivers have to be nominated before P1 and P2 begin.
Tariq Patel (@mdtariqp)
5th July 2013, 20:13
Based on the short life of the soft tyres, I am not sure whether a 2 pit stop strategy will be possible
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
5th July 2013, 21:13
Medium has a long life! So 2 pit stops definitely possible. 6-7 laps on soft, then 25-27 on medium, then 26-29 on medium. This means doing qualifying on soft only.
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
5th July 2013, 21:24
That is interesting indeed. Perhaps a three-stop would be quicker, provided you can run in clean air.
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
5th July 2013, 21:27
Absolutely, a three stop may well be quicker. But I am certain that it can be done with 2 stops without going ridiculously slow. Webber showed no slow-down after 23 laps, so I think they would have held up for a few more laps. Which means a two-stop is feasible.
Looking at Di Resta in Canada, he may even be able to do a one-stop!
Sri Harsha (@harsha)
6th July 2013, 9:06
For a One stop to work he has to Drag the Mediums for atleast 51 laps and 9 on Softs. I don’t think it was possible 2 stops is Best way to for most of teams