
Button may have taken another step towards curing his recent poor pace
The rain once again made a mockery of the Formula 1 paddock, as the German Grand Prix weekend opened to persistent showers and rain. It was Jenson Button who took top spot, as he set his times early, avoiding the rain showers later on.
Teammate Lewis Hamilton was nearly half a second behind, with McLaren testing new sidepods for this weekend. Lewis’ time came at the end of the session, when the track began to dry out.
Williams test driver Valterri Bottas almost beat Button’s time, but a crash in the Stadium section at the end of his lap left him 13th overall.
While Pirelli attempted to run their experimental hard tyre today, the rain ruled out much signs of usable data. Mark Webber set his fastest time on the developing compound, but was 3.5 seconds off the pace in 20th place.
Lotus have brought a raft of upgrades to this Grand Prix, the most interesting being two “ear” intakes on each side of the engine intake. Kimi Raikkonen spent most of FP1 doing short runs, rarely setting a fast time. A “double DRS” system was planned to be raced, but after today’s washout the team have decided not to run the device.
Times from FP1:
1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.595 27
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.093 +0.498 22
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:17.370 +0.775 21
4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:17.382 +0.787 20
5. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:17.413 +0.818 28
6. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:17.599 +1.004 17
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:17.915 +1.320 27
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:17.995 +1.400 22
9. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:18.020 +1.425 20
10. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:18.130 +1.535 21
11. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:18.226 +1.631 22
12. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:18.339 +1.744 21
13. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1:18.422 +1.827 28
14. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:18.709 +2.114 30
15. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1:18.831 +2.236 14
16. Jules Bianchi Force India-Mercedes 1:18.972 +2.377 21
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:19.039 +2.444 34
18. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:19.674 +3.079 24
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:19.963 +3.368 24
20. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:20.122 +3.527 27
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:20.169 +3.574 20
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:20.539 +3.944 18
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:21.138 +4.543 24
24. Dani Clos HRT-Cosworth 1:21.740 +5.145 27
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