Mercedes looked dominant in the opening practice session for the German Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton looks to have continued his good form from Britain to his team’s home race.
Hamilton’s best time of 1:31.754 was enough to put him two tenths ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg, but most impressively a second ahead of the nearest rival outfit, Red Bull.
It was Mark Webber in third ahead of Adrian Sutil and Kimi Raikkonen.
The session was one of the busiest FP1’s seen in years as the drivers looked to get to grips with Pirelli’s revised tyres following the failures at Silverstone last weekend.
All the drivers bar Fernando Alonso completed 16 or more laps, with the majority in the early 20s – which is somewhat unusual for first practice.
Alonso meanwhile didn’t set a timed lap after his Ferrari stopped on the circuit with a suspected ECU software problem preventing him from getting back to the pits, which ended his session very prematurely.
FP1 Times – 2013 German Grand Prix:
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:31.754 | 25 | |
| 02. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:31.973 | +0.219 | 25 |
| 03. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:32.789 | +1.035 | 22 |
| 04. | A. Sutil | Force India | 1:32.822 | +1.068 | 16 |
| 05. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 1:32.956 | +1.202 | 22 |
| 06. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:33.065 | +1.311 | 18 |
| 07. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:33.139 | +1.385 | 24 |
| 08. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:33.213 | +1.459 | 20 |
| 09. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:33.260 | +1.506 | 27 |
| 10. | S. Perez | McLaren | 1:33.456 | +1.702 | 18 |
| 11. | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:33.493 | +1.739 | 18 |
| 12. | N. Hulkenberg | Sauber | 1:33.810 | +2.056 | 20 |
| 13. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:33.901 | +2.147 | 23 |
| 14. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:33.976 | +2.222 | 26 |
| 15. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:34.025 | +2.271 | 20 |
| 16. | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:34.200 | +2.446 | 22 |
| 17. | E. Gutierrez | Sauber | 1:34.437 | +2.683 | 24 |
| 18. | C. Pic | Caterham | 1:35.674 | +3.920 | 23 |
| 19. | M. Chilton | Marussia | 1:35.987 | +4.233 | 19 |
| 20. | G. van der Garde | Caterham | 1:36.078 | +4.324 | 23 |
| 21. | R. Gonzalez | Marussia | 1:37.459 | +5.705 | 21 |
| 22. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | No Time | 2 |
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