The weekend of the German Grand Prix is upon us... Both Friday practice sessions out the way and qualifying tomorrow. The sessions yielded mixed results as is the norm, and the wet weather in the 1st session meant that Hamilton buried his car nicely in the wall leaving engineers with a lot to do to get him out again for the second practice session, in which, he was unsurprisingly off the pace of he likes of Alonso, Vettel and Webber, mainly due to the fact he only managed to get 12 minutes running time. In 1st Practice weather was the problem, and shook the timings up a bit, with Sutil claiming the fastest lap with a 1:25:701, a whole second faster than Massa and Button, with the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber languishing in 11th and 14th respectively. 2nd practice was slightly more representative of the season's results thus far, due to the drier track, with one or two surprises - noteably Fernando Alonso going fastest, with Jenson Button languishing down in 15th. 2nd Practice Results: 1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:16.265 2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:16.294 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:16.438 4 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:16.585 5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:16.827 6 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:16.971 7 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.004 8 Robert Kubica Renault 1:17.009 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:17.056 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:17.204 It's thought there could be more rain tomorrow in Qualifying, which could mix the grid up a bit for the race on Sunday. As for potential controversy following Red Bull's antics following the Front Wing controversy at Silverstone, and favouritism, both Vettel and Webber are to have new front wings in place tomorrow for the final pracitce and qualifying. It would seem that Ferrari are looking pretty handy with Massa and Alonso consistantly quick in practice, but then again, on the dry track, Red Bull were looking pretty fast as well. McLaren seem inconsistant in practice - largely due to Hamilton totalling his car in the wall - but Button with issues in P2 as well. Quali should be interesting tomorrow, but based on the season so far, if the weather stays dry, I personally expect Alonso, Webber and Vettel to lock out the top 3 spots, in any order.
