Team reaction after day one in Hockenheim (part 1)

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso: "We have seen before on Fridays that we are very competitive and then on Saturday, the Red Bulls are clearly quicker, so we have to take this result with a grain of salt: in order to be in front tomorrow, we will have to do something out of the ordinary. Today’s changeable weather made for a different day to usual, making it even harder to get a true picture of the hierarchy among the teams: you only had to use the softs five minutes later to gain half a second. We concentrated on our work and now we have to analyse the data to be as well prepared as possible for qualifying and the race. In terms of set-up we are on the right road, although we need to improve the balance of the car. With these track conditions, combined with quite low temperatures, it is important to be very careful with the tyres, so as not to ruin them immediately, especially the softs, so as to be able to evaluate their degradation for the race. From what we could see, there are no particular surprises in store."

Felipe Massa: "A good start to the weekend here in Hockenheim, but it is still much too soon to say where we are compared to our main opponents. The changing weather conditions will play an important role and we must be as well prepared as possible to tackle the various possible scenarios: for example if qualifying takes place in the wet and the race in the dry. It will be important to understand the behaviour of the tyres and from what we can gather in similar conditions, the softs are pretty good, while the hards are definitely too hard for this track. The latest updates introduced on the F10 also seem to be working well, confirming the progress made on the car. I would like to take this occasion to congratulate Sauber on its forty years in racing: I started my Formula 1 career with them and I really hope they stay in this sport for a long time."

Stefano Domenicali: "It is always best to start a race weekend in this fashion, but we are perfectly aware that today’s results are even less meaningful than usual. Furthermore, at the last two races, we have seen our drivers in the top places on Friday afternoon and everyone knows how it ended up... But superstition apart, we wanted to get through our planned programme and we did so, despite the weather which was very changeable. Now we have to work towards qualifying, which I expect to be very closely contested and then the race. From what we have seen so far, the Red Bull is stll the quickest car, but we are competitive."

Chris Dyer: "It was quite a productive day. Despite the changing weather, which definitely didn’t help, we nevertheless managed to work through practically all the planned programme. We have a few new technical updates on the F10, which seem to have given us something extra in terms of car performance. We managed to evaluate both types of dry tyre and our drivers felt relatively comfortable with both the hard and the soft, and equally pleased with the car. On a track like this, the gaps are shortened, so we can expect a very close fight tomorrow in qualifying. Furthermore, today’s times have to be seen as less representative than usual given the rapid change in track conditions. Tomorrow’s forecast is for rain in the morning, while for qualifying, at least according to the latest bulletin from the middle of this afternoon, should take place in the dry, as should Sunday’s race."

Red Bull Renault

Sebastien Vettel: “The conditions were not easy today, they were quite changeable, which made judging lap times difficult, but we got some dry running in the afternoon which was important. I think it’s looking quite good and the car feels good, especially in the last section. Ferrari looked extremely competitive; McLaren had a difficult day with only one car for the majority of running, but they will come back and be up there. I did a bit of rallying in P2 when I lost the rear going into the Stadium section and had to find my way through the gravel, but fortunately I could save the car and there was no problem.”

Mark Webber: “It wasn’t the easiest day for everyone - the track conditions were pretty tricky, so selecting the right tyres at the right time wasn’t straightforward, but we got some good information out of P2 when the track was pretty dry. We were also able to learn how
both types of wet tyre worked here, so we evaluated the car in almost all conditions
today. The car felt good, but we’ve got some work to do tonight. Ferrari look strong and I’m
looking forward to the race.”

Mercedes GP

Preparations for one of the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS team’s home races, the German Grand Prix, began today at the Hockenheimring with the first two practice sessions taking place in very different conditions.

This morning’s session was preceded by heavy showers leaving a very wet track, therefore Nico and Michael ran on extreme wet tyres, with Nico having a short run on intermediates towards the end. With dry conditions for the afternoon session, the track was suitable for slicks, and gave the team the first opportunity to evaluate the latest upgrades for the MGP W01.

Nico completed 52 laps and ended the day in fifth place with Michael completing 33 laps in sixth position.

Nico Rosberg: “In the wet conditions this morning, the car was very good and our pace looked quick. It was more difficult to get the intermediate tyres working, however we didn’t do many laps so I’m sure we would have been fine there too. In the dry this afternoon, I was less happy with the balance of the car in general. It was difficult as there was so little time to try and do our usual programme so we had to focus on the long runs without making too many set-up changes. We need to have a good look at the data and see what we can change without taking too many risks as I’m not completely happy with the balance yet.”

Michael Schumacher: “Today´s sessions were a bit mixed due to the weather conditions but we were able to get the car working by the end so it was a reasonable day. One of my excursions caused some damage to the floor which led to a second excursion afterwards and we decided to stop slightly early this afternoon. We are looking reasonable over one lap and on longer runs, confirming what we already hinted at during the last weekend in Silverstone. If everything goes as it should tomorrow, we should reach fifth or sixth position, which is a step forward, and maybe even more in the race. But for sure, we will do everything possible to achieve a good result for our fans at our home race.”

Ross Brawn: “It’s been an unusual and challenging day with the changing track conditions and a few small issues to overcome during our running. The car looked reasonable in the wet this morning and the experience will be helpful if the weather continues to be variable. This afternoon gave us the first opportunity to analyse our upgrades on a dry track. The initial feedback looks positive but we need to take full advantage of the final practice hour tomorrow to maximise their potential.”

Norbert Haug: “We learned quite a lot today about the new upgrades that we are introducing here at our home race in Hockenheim. We had reasonable results but it is clear that there still is a gap to the quickest. Our race pace didn´t look too bad so tomorrow we need to get a decent qualifying position for both our cars in order to get respectable results in front of our home crowd.”

McLaren Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton: “Obviously, I damaged the car quite heavily this morning. It was very slippery and I hit the limiter coming out of Turn Three, shifted gear, which spun the wheels, and had an oversteer moment. Itried to correct it and that put me onto the grass, where I was just a passenger.

“The accident took all four corners off the car, so I was a little bit upset with myself. The guys work so hard during the week to get the car ready, and then you get to the track, do a few laps, and total the car, which isn’t great. It was a huge amount of work for the guys, too, but they’ve just been phenomenal.

“It was positive to get back out there and overcome the difficulties I had in the morning. We missed the afternoon’s rain too, which was good. Now I have a decent idea of where the car is, so hopefully we can make some positive set-up changes overnight.

“The new blown diffuser still isn’t perfect – it’s not something you can just put on the car and drive with the same balance that you had before; you’ve got to alter the balance, and modify your driving style. We’re still working on it, but there’s potential there.”

Jenson Button: “This morning was useful, because there’s a possibility of more rain tomorrow. But we didn’t have a very good set-up for P1 in the wet – we changed the car over lunch, and I was much happier with the balance this afternoon.

“As always, we have to do things to make the car better. The long-run pace is pretty reasonable – I think we were expecting more issues with graining on the Option, but it didn’t seem to be a big issue. Hopefully, tomorrow’s morning session will be dry so we can focus on some useful set-up work.

“Obviously, Lewis had a problem this morning, so I had a busy afternoon running through our long-run programme in P2.The new floor appears to be working well. We still need to look at the data to see how much of an improvement it’s giving us, but there’s no negative to it, which is great.”

Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal: “Today’s two sessions presented difficult and changeable conditions in which to conduct the necessary tests, but we nonetheless gathered a lot of useful data that will hopefully give us good direction throughout the rest of the weekend.

“Clearly, Lewis’s small error this morning caused damage to his car that took a while to repair, thereby limiting his running this afternoon. In the end he went out with just 13 minutes left, and did just one run on the Prime tyre. Nonetheless, he posted the seventh-fastest lap of the session and remains well placed to do a solid job tomorrow.

“This afternoon Jenson knuckled down to a disciplined programme of long running on heavy fuel loads, concentrating on race durability.

“We feel we have decent pace here – and, as I say, having concentrated largely on long running on heavy fuel loads today, will focus on qualifying practice tomorrow morning.”

Renault

Robert Kubica: It was a difficult Friday because of the weather conditions which meant we ran all four tyre specifications at different points during the two sessions. These conditions make it difficult to test anything properly, so we concentrated on getting a feeling for the tyres. The super-soft compound actually performed quite well, possibly helped by the low temperatures, but it was more difficult to judge the hard compound because the track was still a bit damp when I ran with it. In terms of the balance, the car felt a little bit strange today, so we will investigate to find out what the cause might have been, and we will be hoping for more stable conditions tomorrow.

Vitaly Petrov: When the weather conditions are changing all the time, it’s difficult to find the right set-up, so we just tried to run and run today, to see how the track was changing and get a feel for the car. Even so, we managed to make some good changes and I think we have a good set-up for tomorrow. There were no problems during the day, and I know that my fastest lap could have been even quicker, so now we must keep working well tonight and see what Saturday brings.

Williams Cosworth

Sam Michael, Technical Director: We had a good day’s practice and got through some of our planned schedule which included assessing some new parts. We also covered the usual Friday items such as set-up, cooling and tyres. The car looks reasonable and we need to continue the trend from the last few races. We ran some new parts on both cars today and they are all working as expected and will be carried forward. Additionally, Rubens is running a further step on the diffuser.

Rubens Barrichello: It was a good, mixed up day in terms of the weather and we tried everything tyre-wise from full wets through to slicks. I am happy that we have moved on to another circuit and the car has maintained its competitiveness in all the different conditions we encountered. Equally, we need to find whatever improvement we can tomorrow in order to be sure of a top ten qualifying result.

Nico Hulkenberg: t was a positive Friday, not only did I feel good in the car, but there is of course a positive feeling being on the track at your home race. I think we can have a strong weekend if we put it all together. It’s a relatively short circuit and traffic was a bit problematic at times today, but it’s only Friday and hopefully we won’t have any issues in qualifying.