McLaren’s Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton led the way on Friday morning in Hockenheim for first practice for the German Grand Prix.
The duo were running the newly revised MP4-27 which features a raft of updates, the largest and most significant are the undercut sidepods.
Button’s best lap, a 1:16.595, put him almost half a second ahead of team-mate Hamilton, whilst Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher and Sergio Perez were all within a second.
Lotus also ran some visual upgrades with ducts either side of the roll-hoop and their own version of Mercedes super-DRS system – though limited running due to rain rendered much of the on-track action inconclusive.
The weather also caught out a few drivers, with many running wide before Valtteri Bottas hit the barrier is Bruno Senna’s Williams at the end of the session.
2012 German GP FP1 Results:
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:16.595 | 27 | |
| 02. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:17.093 | +0.498 | 22 |
| 03. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:17.370 | +0.775 | 21 |
| 04. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:17.382 | +0.787 | 20 |
| 05. | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:17.413 | +0.818 | 28 |
| 06. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:17.599 | +1.004 | 17 |
| 07. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:17.915 | +1.320 | 27 |
| 08. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:17.995 | +1.400 | 22 |
| 09. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:18.020 | +1.425 | 20 |
| 10. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:18.130 | +1.535 | 21 |
| 11. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:18.226 | +1.631 | 22 |
| 12. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:18.339 | +1.744 | 21 |
| 13. | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:18.422 | +1.827 | 28 |
| 14. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:18.709 | +2.114 | 30 |
| 15. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 1:18.831 | +2.236 | 14 |
| 16. | J. Bianchi | Force India | 1:18.972 | +2.377 | 21 |
| 17. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:19.039 | +2.444 | 34 |
| 18. | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:19.674 | +3.079 | 24 |
| 19. | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:19.963 | +3.368 | 24 |
| 20. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:20.122 | +3.527 | 27 |
| 21. | C. Pic | Marussia | 1:20.169 | +3.574 | 20 |
| 22. | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:20.539 | +3.944 | 18 |
| 23. | P. de la Rosa | HRT | 1:21.138 | +4.543 | 23 |
| 24. | D. Clos | HRT | 1:21.740 | +5.145 | 27 |
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