Formula 1 2013 German Grand Prix - Sebastien Vettel Rings In Home Victory
Practice Practice saw cloudy skies on Friday, and then bright sunshine on Saturday that raised the temperatures at the Nurburgring. Mercedes picked up where they left off by sweeping a one-two in FP1, with Rosberg finishing second in all three sessions as Hamilton became less comfortable with his car. Red Bull were well on the pace, though Vettel was less happy in FP1, before going fastest in FP2 and 3, ahead of Webber who never dropped from the top three in any session. Ferrari and Lotus seemed well matched behind them, trading places between fourth and seventh. Lotus looked fast with Kimi seeming comfortable and Grosjean finding good pace, while Ferrari had problems as Alonso suffered power failures in FP1 due to an ECU issue, preventing him setting a time as Massa conducted their long-run testing and seeking one-lap pace. The hotter conditions came to Lotus in FP3 to let them seize the initiative from Ferrari ahead of qualifying. McLaren took the impetus from Force India with a step forward in pace behind the leading four teams. Button found more than Perez, but both felt the car was good on Friday and that the tyres were working well, with their pace better relative to the cars around them and a good chance at some points. Force India slipped backwards a little this weekend behind the Woking-based team as they struggled with set-up, not finding the car as dialled in as they wanted. They found the longer runs a bit tougher and only managed to displace a single McLaren in FP3. Torro Rosso failed to find the pace they showed in Britain behind the Force Indias, struggling to deliver so well through the tighter, twisting first sector. The team knew that this circuit would not be as favourable as Silverstone, but they failed to get quite the pace they hoped for. Sauber seemed to have taken a step past the Williams at Hulkenbergs home Grand Prix, with both drivers working comfortably through their programme on Friday and the young German breaking into the top ten ahead of Force India on Saturday morning. Both drivers felt theyd made a good step forward with the car. Williams failed to find any more pace from Silverstone behind the Swiss outfit, running mechanical set up testing Friday and analysing the tyres as the track rubbered in. In the battle at the back, Caterham mostly dominated Marussia this weekend, beating them completely on Friday at Pics favourite track, working on aerodynamic development and finding a good balance with the car that yielded consistent pace for both drivers. They continued that pace into Saturday morning, though Bianchi managed to get between them for Marussia. Rodolfo took over Bianchis car for FP1, with the Frenchman dropping back in for FP2, only to cut it short due to an upset stomach. Chilton was reasonably comfortable and beat Van der Garde in FP1 as he worked mostly on long-run set-up ahead of the race, feeling their true pace would show in qualifying.