Prac One: Hamilton sets the early pace

Friday 18th July 2008

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the opening practice session for the German GP as a fast drying track allowed the drivers to put in the mileage.

The McLaren driver clocked a 1:15.537 to edge his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen by 0.129s while Felipe Massa was third quickest, a further 0.130s off the pace.

Report: On a wet track made even more so by rain falling ten minutes into the session Nelson Piquet Jr set the first lap time of the session, a 1:35.054, before losing out to his team-mate Fernando Alonso. The times continued to tumble with Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and again Alonso all turning up the pace.

After thirty minutes the two Ferraris finally made their first appearance while the rain shower abated. Felipe Massa quickly moved to the top of the timesheets with a 1:27.824, however, he lost out seconds later as Kimi Raikkonen bettered his time by just over a quarter of a second.

Raikkonen continued to lap, a dry line forming, allowing the Finn to take over a second off his previous best. Massa, though, bettered his time, taking the P1 slot back as Rubens Barrichello, Timo Glock, Sebastien Bourdais and Alonso completing the top six at the halfway point of the session.

With the track drying out fast German driver Vettel was the first to use the dry tyres, immediately taking to the top with a 1:22.381, two and a half seconds up on Massa's best time on the intermediate tyres. Vettel continued to lap, taking another second off his time. His team-mate Bourdais was the next to put on the dry tyres, going second quickest

The two Toro Rosso drivers were overhauled by Force India's Adrian Sutil, one of five German's lining up on the grid this weekend. He was replaced at the top by another German with BMW's Nick Heidfeld taking his turn at the front before being overtaken by Sutil with Timo Glock, another German, going third quickest.

Glock improved to second place with Nico Rosberg taking third, which put all five German's in the top six with half an hour left to play.

The lap times tumbled in the final twenty minutes with Rosberg, Raikkonen, Mark Webber, Alonso, Massa, Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen all taking a turn at the top. The session eventually ended with Hamilton on top.

Times
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:15.537 21 laps
02 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:15.666 18 laps
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:15.796 22 laps
04 F. Alonso Renault 1:16.163 22 laps
05 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:16.327 22 laps
06 N. Rosberg Williams 1:16.606 27 laps
07 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.618 24 laps
08 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:16.719 20 laps
09 K. Nakajima Williams 1:16.821 26 laps
10 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:17.063 26 laps
11 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:17.108 18 laps
12 J. Button Honda 1:17.131 28 laps
13 T. Glock Toyota 1:17.185 28 laps
14 M. Webber Red Bull 1:17.268 11 laps
15 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:17.471 30 laps
16 R. Barrichello Honda 1:17.500 24 laps
17 J. Trulli Toyota 1:17.556 29 laps
18 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:17.784 29 laps
19 R. Kubica BMW 1:18.779 8 laps
20 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.506 16 laps

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