Fernando Alonso set the pace on Friday morning © Getty Images
Fernando Alonso picked up where he left off two weeks ago at Silverstone by going straight to the top of the timesheets during first practice for the German Grand Prix.
On Thursday the Ferrari driver said his car would still be on the pace this weekend, and on the basis of the first practice session that appears to be the case. He was 0.323s faster than Red Bull's Mark Webber who was 0.051s up on team-mate Sebastian Vettel. However, Friday mornings are never the best guide for the upcoming weekend's performances and this morning's results were complicated by Pirelli offering two sets of soft compound development tyres for each driver.
All the fastest times were set on the development tyre, which was being tested with 2012 in mind and appeared to offer stable performance across its lifespan rather than just a single flying lap. As a result Webber and Vettel set their fastest laps on their second outing on the soft rubber and Alonso set his fastest time on his final lap.
Felipe Massa was fourth fastest in the second Ferrari, 0.7s off his team-mate's best, but lost quite a lot of time towards the end of the session making set-up changes. The two McLarens were fifth and sixth with Lewis Hamilton over a second off Alonso and Jenson Button 1.734s adrift of the Ferrari. McLaren had hoped to be back on the pace this weekend after a disappointing home race, but the early evidence suggests it is going to be an uphill struggle.
Nico Rosberg was just over 0.1s off Button in the improved Mercedes, but also had the two Force India's of Adrian Sutil and Nico Hulkenberg close on his tail. Michael Schumacher rounded out the top ten by setting a time within two seconds of Alonso, but looked a little bit messy at times and ran into the gravel at the Dunlop Curve on one occasion.
Sebastien Buemi had the biggest accident of the session when he got his Toro Rosso sideways entering turn five and became airborne as the car clipped the outside kerbs. He was lucky not to flip it, but eventually came to a safe standstill in the gravel. Heikki Kovalainen also ran wide at the same corner towards the end of the session but with less dramatic consequences.
On the whole it was a positive session for Lotus with Kovalainen ahead of a Williams and a Sauber and Karun Chandhok easing his way into his one-off weekend as a race driver. His compatriot Narain Karthikeyan was back in action for the first time since he was dropped for Daniel Ricciardo, and appeared to be on a mission, setting a lap over half a second quicker than his HRT team-mate and faster than Chandhok. Tonio Liuzzi will be back in the cockpit for the afternoon session and the rest of the weekend.
Credit: ESPN F1 (en.espnf1.com)
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