Button, Maldonado top wet German practice

Friday 20th July, 2012 11:53pm
Author: SpeedCafe ©

Pastor Maldonado

Jenson Button and Pastor Maldanado have set the fastest times in mixed conditions in the opening practice sessions at Hockenheim ahead of the German Grand Prix.

The first session saw Button lead the way in the first on-track appearance of McLaren’s updated MP4-27.

The session was held between intermittent rain showers with Button’s time was set in dry conditions at the start of the session. He edged out team-mate Lewis Hamilton and world championship leader Fernando Alonso.

Williams driver Maldoando was fastest in an even wetter second session, setting his time during the best of some poor conditions.

Maldonado’s team-mate Bruno Senna only competed in the second session after Valtteri Bottas got some laps in the Williams in Practice 1. Bottas’ time in the car was hampered by an incident.

Others to run into trouble included Michael Schumacher, who crashed at the stadium section of the circuit in Practice 2.

Schumacher’s Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg ended up second, ahead of Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Sergio Perez (Sauber) and Romain Grosjean (Lotus).

Practice 1

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Time/Retired	Gap	Laps
1	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:16.595		27
2	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:17.093	0.498	22
3	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:17.370	0.775	21
4	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:17.382	0.787	20
5	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:17.413	0.818	28
6	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:17.599	1.004	17
7	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:17.915	1.320	27
8	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:17.995	1.400	22
9	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1:18.020	1.425	20
10	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:18.130	1.535	21
11	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1:18.226	1.631	22
12	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:18.339	1.744	21
13	19	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	1:18.422	1.827	28
14	16	Daniel Ricciardo	STR-Ferrari	1:18.709	2.114	30
15	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	1:18.831	2.236	14
16	11	Jules Bianchi	Force India-Mercedes	1:18.972	2.377	21
17	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Ferrari	1:19.039	2.444	34
18	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1:19.674	3.079	24
19	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1:19.963	3.368	24
20	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:20.122	3.527	27
21	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1:20.169	3.574	20
22	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1:20.539	3.944	18
23	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1:21.138	4.543	24
24	23	Dani Clos	HRT-Cosworth	1:21.740	5.145	27

Practice 2

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Time/Retired	Gap	Laps
1	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1:27.476		14
2	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:27.564	0.088	24
3	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:27.902	0.426	24
4	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:28.402	0.926	26
5	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:28.420	0.944	20
6	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:28.495	1.019	22
7	16	Daniel Ricciardo	STR-Ferrari	1:28.513	1.037	23
8	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:28.516	1.040	16
9	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:28.877	1.401	21
10	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	1:29.327	1.851	22
11	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Ferrari	1:29.364	1.888	26
12	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:29.719	2.243	15
13	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1:29.785	2.309	24
14	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1:30.090	2.614	19
15	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1:30.220	2.744	16
16	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	1:30.291	2.815	22
17	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1:30.331	2.855	26
18	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:30.437	2.961	14
19	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:30.617	3.141	16
20	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:31.207	3.731	20
21	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1:32.241	4.765	22
22	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1:32.349	4.873	17
23	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:32.777	5.301	18
24	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1:42.566	15.090	8