Lewis Hamilton has given Mercedes the perfect start to its home grand prix weekend by finishing quickest in the first practice session at the Nurburgring this morning, with Nico Rosberg underlining the pace of the Silver Arrows by coming home P2 as Red Bull struggled to produce such pace, finishing over one second behind Hamilton at the top.
The session began in a rather quiet manner following the statement issued by Pirelli and the FIA earlier today, causing teams to be particularly cautious during the first few laps on the new tires. However, they stuck to their usual programme, completing a series of installation laps early on. This did not go to plan for Fernando Alonso, with the Ferrari coming to a halt on the entry to turn five during his outlap. Paul di Resta also had difficulties, bickering with his engineer over the radio, but it was not until around 30 minutes of the session had been completed that the first benchmark time was set by Jenson Button, eventually improving to a lap of 1:33.545 on the medium compound.
McLaren’s spell at the top of the timesheets was not to last long as Red Bull and Mercedes soon hit the front. Mark Webber, who won at the Nurburgring back in 2009, led from teammate Sebastian Vettel before the Silver Arrows went fastest via the last winner at this track, Lewis Hamilton. He and Nico Rosberg then exchanged fastest times with just 0.011 seconds separating them at one point, but Mercedes enjoyed a lead of over a second from Webber in P3. Other impressive times came from Adrian Sutil (P4) and Felipe Massa (P6), with both drivers looking to build on the points that they scored last time out at Silverstone.
However, it was not fun and games for all of the field. Max Chilton, Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Gutierrez all had lock-ups heading into the tight first corner, whilst Rodolfo Gonzalez (deputizing for Jules Bianchi in FP1) received a €1000 fine for speeding in the pit lane.
The final set of runs saw Vettel and Grosjean both improving as Hamilton became another victim of the first corner, using the full extent of the run-off area, but he remained secure in top spot as the heavy fuel runs prevented any real challenge to his supremacy.
Mercedes will be delighted to have kicked off their home grand prix in such dominant fashion, and the sizeable gap to their rivals will make this session all the more pleasing. The question that will be asked this afternoon is whether or not the drivers feel safe racing on the prototype Pirelli tires, with the GPDA stepping up its warning last night.
