The opening Friday practice for the 2013 German GP would see Williams F1 drivers Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas finish in 15th and 16th. It was an uneventful session with both cars carrying a special 600 GP livery.
German GP Friday 1st
Practice
The opening
Friday practice for the 2013 German Grand Prix would be run under cloudy and
cool conditions. With tyres been the topic of conversation in the lead-up to
the German GP weekend Pirelli had brought Kevlar belted rear tyres for this
race, as a result of the failures during the British Grand Prix. In addition
to these tyres the FIA had imposed limits on how the teams can use their
tyres including tyre pressures and camber angles. Pirelli had brought the
soft and medium tyres for this meeting. The Williams team would run a
special livery for their 600th Grand Prix.
With the start of the ninety minute session Chilton would be first out
joined by Sutil. Valtteri Bottas would be first out for Williams with Pastor
Maldonado following him out shortly after. For Alonso his session would come
to an end with his car coming to a stop out on the track near Turn five.
Alonso would get out of the car. Both Williams drivers would complete their
installation lap returning to their pits. Alonso would help the marshals
move his car out of the way. Hamilton would set the
first lap time with a slow 2m:16.935.The drivers would return to their
garages with the last driver coming in being Rosberg. The track was now
empty as the teams checked out their cars.
Vergne would be the first driver to return to the track joined by Gonzalez
who was running on Friday at Marussia replacing Bianchi. Vergne would
quickly pit followed by Gonzalez. It was reported that Alonso's issue was
electrical. Di Resta was next out in his Force India. He was followed by
Chilton with twenty minutes of the session completed. After a single lap Di
Resta would pit followed by Chilton leaving the
track again empty. Alonso's Ferrari would find its way back to the Ferrari
garage while we would have Gonzalez and Button now out on the track. Perez
was next out joined by Grosjean. Button was on a flying lap setting a
1m:39.929 as Gonzalez pitted. Webber and Ricciardo were next out with just
under an hour remaining. Button would set a 1m:34.342 with Perez second with
a time of 1m:38.014.
Grosjean was now second as Button continued to improve with a 1m:33.642. We
also had Vergne and Van der Gar out on the track as Perez set a 1m:35.364.
Webber would move into third with a 1m:35.634 but Grosjean would improve to
again be second with a 1m:35.303. A 1m:37.927 from Ricciardo as Perez again
went second with a 1m:34.442. Button was again finding time going fastest in
sectors one and two. He would find a few tenths to finish with a 1m:33.545.
Vergne was sixth and Van der Gar seventh. Perez would pit as we now had
Gutierrez and Massa out on the track. Grosjean and Webber would move into
second and third with Perez now fourth. Vettel and Hulkenberg would come out
as Button pitted. Webber would go fastest with a 1m:33.047 with Ricciardo
now fifth, 1m:34.843.
We had yet to see either Williams driver leave the pits with Massa moving
into sixth, 1m:34.889. This would become seventh as Vergne went fifth
fastest. We now had both Mercedes cars out on the track. Raikkonen had also
come out while Massa went fourth fastest, 1m:34.037. Vettel and Hulkenberg
were eighth and ninth as Raikkonen and Rosberg were twelfth and thirteenth. Vettel would move up to
be fifth, 1m:34.201. We now had both Williams out on the track for their
first runs as Rosberg moved into third with a 1m:33.552. This would become
fourth as Vettel moved into second with a 1m:33.505. Button was now third
followed by Rosberg, Massa, Raikkonen, Grosjean, and Ricciardo eighth. Pastor's first lap was a
1m:37.175 to currently be in seventeenth. Rosberg was on a quick lap going
fastest with a 1m:32.552.
Alonso was now back out on the track with Raikkonen moving up to second,
1m:32.965. Valtteri would move up to eleventh with a time of 1m:34.574.
Alonso would pit again with an issue with his car. Hamilton was on a quick
lap setting a 1m:32.349 to move ahead of Rosberg. Pastor had moved up to
twelfth with a 1m:34.514 with Valtteri thirteenth with a 1m:34.574. Webber
was now fourth followed by Vettel, Button, Massa, Grosjean, Ricciardo, and
Vergne tenth. We had yet to see times from either Force India cars and
Chilton. Pastor was now eleventh with a time of 1m:34.440 while at the front
Rosberg would go fastest with a 1m:32.201 but he was quickly beaten by
Hamilton with a 1m:32.041. Pastor had pitted with just under forty minutes
remaining. Rosberg's next lap would see him set a 1m:32.052 to be just
behind Hamilton.
Valtteri was on an improved lap put he would pit prior to completing the
lap. Hamilton would find more time being the first driver to set time in the
1m:31s, with a 1m:31.754. Raikkonen was till third but now 1.2 seconds
behind Hamilton. Sutil's first lap would see him eleventh, 1m:34.196, as
more drivers returned to the track. Di Resta was only fifteenth but
team-mate Sutil would improve to be fifth with a lap time of 1m:33.225.
Thirty minutes remaining as Di Resta would also improve to be twelfth with a
1m:34.110. Pastor and Valtteri were now in thirteenth and fifteenth. Button
and Perez were both back on the track with Button fifth and Perez fifteenth.
Sutil would improve to be third with a time of 1m:32.822. Hulkenberg was now
twelfth, 1m:34.029, as Pastor returned to the track.
Webber would move from fifth to be third, 1m:32.789, while for team-mate
Vettel his mechanics were working on the rear of his car. Di Resta was now
eighth, 1m:33.493, with Valtteri now also out on the track. Massa was now
sixth with a 1m:33.126 as drivers started to pit after their second runs.
Pastor and Valtteri were now sixteenth and seventeenth. Perez was now in
eighth with a time of 1m:33.456 while for Alonso he had yet to set a time
having completed just two laps. Valtteri was back out while Pastor would
find a tenth setting a 1m::34.315 remaining fifteenth. Valtteri was now
sixteenth as we now had Rosberg, Raikkonen, and Vettel back out on the
track. Valtteri would set a 1m:34.200 to move ahead of Pastor while Pastor
would pit. There was now fifteen minutes remaining in the session as Hamilton and Grosjean
also come out. Valtteri would also pit.
The track was now busy with drivers improving with Raikkonen now fifth,
1m:32.956, and Vettel eighth, 1m:33.215. Ten minutes remaining and Hamilton
was still fastest from Rosberg, Webber, Sutil, Raikkonen, Massa, Button,
Vettel, Perez, and Di Resta tenth. With under seven minutes remaining the
track was now very busy with both Williams drivers back out on the track. At this time only Pic
and Alonso were not out on the track as drivers completed longer runs. Pic
would return to the track as Perez pitted. The Williams team was aiming to
complete a practice pit stop at the end of the session. Massa would pit
briefly as the final minutes counted down. Pastor was on a quicker lap
setting a 1m:34.025 to move into fifteenth. Valtteri was now sixteenth as
the session came to an end. Grosjean was now ninth as Rosberg went fastest
in the final sector setting a 1m:31.973 but remaining second on what were
tyres that had completed around twenty laps.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m31.754s 25
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m31.973s 25
3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m32.789s 22
4. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m32.822s 16
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m32.956s 22
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m33.065s 18
7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m33.139s 24
8. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m33.213s 20
9. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m33.260s 27
10. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m33.456s 18
11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m33.493s 18
12. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m33.810s 20
13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.901s 23
14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.976s 26
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m34.025s 20
16. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m34.200s 22
17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m34.437s 24
18. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m35.674s 23
19. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m35.987s 19
20. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m36.078s 23
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m37.459s 21
22. Fernando Alonso Ferrari no time 2
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