Earlier this week Pirelli claimed teams’ switching of the rear tyres, running
with pressures too high and excessive cambers were all part of the problem
behind the failures at Silverstone.
The teams have now been asked to run their tyres at the advised pressures,
with the appropriate camber, and that swapping is no longer permissible.
There was only one incident of note, and even then it was nothing to do with
tyres as Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari suffered an electrical fault that left
him without a time.
Out in front were Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton spearheading a one-two with
team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton clocked a time of one minute 31.754secs, with Rosberg 0.219 secs
adrift following a period in the session where they traded fast laps.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber was third fastest, albeit the Australian a second down
on Hamilton, with Force India’s Adrian Sutil in close attendance.
Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen was up next, with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa sixth quickest
followed by Jenson Button in his McLaren, 1.385secs down.
Reigning champion and current title leader Sebastian Vettel was down in eighth
for Red Bull, nearly 1.5secs off the pace, with Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and
McLaren’s Sergio Perez completing the top 10.
Paul Di Resta was 1.739secs adrift in his Force India in 11th, with the
remainder all over two seconds back, led by Nico Hulkenberg for Sauber.
The slowest of those setting a time was Marussia’s Jules Bianchi, the
Frenchman 5.705secs down.
German GP first practice:
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes 1min 31.754secs
2 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1:31.973
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:32.789
4 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:32.822
5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus 1:32.956
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:33.065
7 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:33.139
8 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:33.213
9 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus 1:33.260
10 Sergio Perez (Mex) McLaren 1:33.456
11 Paul Di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:33.493
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Sauber 1:33.810
13 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Toro Rosso 1:33.901
14 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso 1:33.976
15 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:34.025
16 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams 1:34.200
17 Esteban Gutierrez (Mex) Sauber 1:34.437
18 Charles Pic (Fra) Caterham 1:35.674
19 Max Chilton (Gbr) Marussia 1:35.987
20 Giedo van der Garde (Ned) Caterham 1:36.078
21 Rodolfo Gonzalez (Ven) Marussia 1:37.459
22 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari no time
(Edited by Giles Mole)