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On an overcast
but dry morning the Williams F1 team would get ready for the opening Friday
practice for the 2012 German Grand Prix. Pirelli had brought their medium
and soft tyres for the weekend. An experimental hard compound tyres,
with a wider working temperature range, was also available for
testing during the Friday sessions. The session would get underway with a
rush of drivers coming out with Pastor Maldonado coming out early for the
Williams F1 team. Valtteri Bottas had again replaced Bruno Senna for this
session. Valtteri would also leave the pit lane for his installation lap.
Pastor would pit after one lap followed by Valtteri.
Kobayashi would set the first time of the day with a 1m:55.569, running on
the experimental hard tyre. With eight minutes of the session completed the
track would be empty. In the Torro Ross garage Vergne's mechanics were hard
at work on his car. Ricciardo was first back out followed by Button,
Kovalainen, and Perez. Ricciardo would pit without setting a time.
Kovalainen and Perez were on the hard tyre while Button was on the medium.
Grosjean would come out as Button set a 1m:18.759 to be quickest. Perez was
second, 1m:23.198, from Kovalainen and Kobayashi. Button would improve with
a 1m:17.410. For Williams both Pastor and Valtteri were out on the track.
Perez would improve with a 1m:20.665. A 1m:17.240 from Button as Grosjean
went second fastest with a 1m:19.251. Kobayashi was
back out on the track along with Petrov, Webber, and Clos. Clos was driving
for HRT as Valtteri set a 1m:21.133 to be fourth.
Rosberg was fifth from Kovalainen, Glock, Clos, and Petrov. Button would
find further pace setting a 1m:16.595 to remain fastest. Hamilton, Vergne,
and Raikkonen were also out on the track. Pastor had pitted without setting
a time. Webber was now eighth, 1m:22.683, while Valtteri set a 1m:19.274 but
remained in fourth. Button, Grosjean, and Perez would all pit while Rosberg
was still fifth from Kovalainen, Glock, Hamilton, Vergne, Petrov, Webber,
and Clos. There were reports of rain as the track became fairly empty.
Pastor would come back out with an hour and five
minutes remaining. Valtteri had pitted as the track was declared wet. Vettel
was out on the track but Pastor had pitted. Valtteri had been running on the
medium tyre as Vettel pitted leaving just Vergne out on the track. Ricciardo
would return to the track, joined by Massa, Hamilton, Bianchi, and De la
Rosa. The track had improved
with the rain easing off. Vergne would set a 1m:20.080 to be fifth as Perez
came back out.
Massa was in eighth with a 1m:21.540 as Schumacher took to the track. Both
Williams drivers would return to the track as the track dried. Button was
also back out along with several other drivers, including Alonso and Vettel.
Massa would improve with a 1m:19.871 remaining fifth. Massa was on the
experimental hard tyre as Button pitted. Ricciardo was in eleventh with a
1m:21.824. Pastor would go off running across the gravel seeing him return
to his pit as the rain returned. With fifty minutes remaining it was Button
fastest from Grosjean, Perez, Valtteri, Massa,
Vergne, Rosberg, Kovalainen, Hamilton, and Glock in tenth. Pastor had yet to
set a time while Massa was the only driver on the track with just under
fifty minutes remaining. Massa would pit as Kovalainen returned to the
track. Pic would also come out for Marussia. Kovalainen would pit after
running wide as Valtteri returned to the track.
Pic would set a 1m:39.635 to be seventeenth. Ricciardo would also come back
out as Pic improved his time with a 1m:28.581. Pic was now fourteenth with a
1m:23.900 as Vergne took to the track with forty minutes remaining. More
drivers started to return to the track including Pastor, Webber, Raikkonen,
Alonso, Grosjean, Perez, and Glock. Ricciardo set a 1m:19.723 to be fifth.
Pastors first time would be a 1m:21.031 to be ninth. Button was also back
out as Ricciardo set a 1m:19.103 to be third. Pastor would move up to fifth
with a 1m:19.210 seeing Valtteri now sixth. Four driver had yet to set times including Vettel, Schumacher,
Raikkonen, and Hulkenberg. Hulkenberg's first time would be a 1m:19.804 to
be seventh. Webber was on the experimental hard tyre setting a 1m:21.134 to
be thirteenth. Alonso was now second with a 1m:17.795 with Grosjean now
third.
Pastor and Valtteri would now be seventh and eighth. Pastor was on a quicker
lap seeing him set a 1m:19.177 to be sixth. Perez was seventh and Valtteri
eighth. Hamilton would improve to be fourth, 1m:18.845. Vettel was down in
eighteenth while Raikkonen still had yet to set a time. Hulkenberg was now
third, 1m:18.103, but Hamilton would take this spot with a 1m:17.926.
Valtteri would also improve with a 1m:19.044 to be seventh. Vergne was now
eighth with Pastor dropping to tenth. Schumacher was now fifth with a
1m:18.247. Team-mate Rosberg would also improve with a 1m:17.915 as the rain
returned. Hulkenberg was now in second with a time of 1m:17.599, running on
the medium tyre. Valtteri had pitted, currently in tenth, while Pastor was
thirteenth and also back in his pit. Vettel was on the experimental tyre,
currently in eighth. The track would quickly empty but Kobayashi was out
running on the intermediate tyre as he continued to evaluate aero parts.
Massa was the last driver to pit leaving the track empty. The variable
weather conditions were making it difficult for the teams as they tried to
work through their test programmes. Twenty minutes remaining in the session
with Button fastest from, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Rosberg, Hamilton, Schumacher,
Grosjean, Vettel, Ricciardo, and Valtteri tenth. Both Sauber cars would
return to the track with no more rain expected. Both Williams drivers would
prepare to come back out as Kobayashi set a 1m:24.349 running on the
intermediate tyre. Perez would pit as Vergne came back
out running on the experimental tyre. Ricciardo was next out joined by
Massa, Webber, Schumacher, and Hamilton. More drivers started to return to
the track with twelve minutes remaining. Valtteri was the first out for
Williams as Massa moved up to eighth, 1m:18.530. Schumacher was now third,
1m:17.649, with Valtteri dropping to thirteenth and Pastor fourteenth.
Pastor was back out with only three cars still in their pits. Schumacher was
now second fastest with a 1m:17.382. Perez was now third, 1m:17.413, as
Alonso moved up to second, 1m:17.370. Valtteri was now tenth with a
1m:18.422 while Pastor had dropped to fifteenth. Vettel was twelfth and
would pit briefly. Pastor would improve to be eleventh with a time of
1m:18.670 as Perez pitted. Five minutes remaining and Hamilton was on a
quicker lap setting a 1m:17.093 to be second pushing Alonso to third. Alonso
was also on a better lap setting a 1m:17.370 remaining in third. Raikkonen
still had to set a time while Pastor would improve to be ninth with a
1m:18.020. Valtteri was now twelfth but he would crash his car against the
tyre barrier at the Sachs curve. He would say that he lost the rear and
apologises for his accident. The session would come to an end with Button
still fastest from Hamilton, and Alonso.
Prior to his accident Valtteri was down in thirteenth but Pastor's ninth
showed that the FW34 did have more pace. On the lap that he crashed he was
on a quicker lap. Now it was down to the Williams mechanics to repair
Bruno's car prior to the second session. Apart from the accident it was a
positive start to the weekend for Williams made that more difficult by the
variable weather conditions. |
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