German GP: Maldonado leads Bottas in FP1

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.

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