MCLAREN-MERCEDES
Lewis Hamilton dominated the opening day of the German grand prix; a tenth faster than his teammate in the damp morning, and seven tenths ahead of the Ferraris (and nearly a full second in front of Heikki Kovalainen) with his late afternoon effort. “While we don’t know the respective fuel loads of our rivals, we nonetheless feel comfortable with our pace,” said team boss Ron Dennis.
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FERRARI
Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen showed similar pace on the dry afternoon tarmac, but both were a whopping 7 tenths shy of McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton’s best lap, set late in the session. “Right up until the final minutes, the times were all very similar,” Raikkonen noted. “We can take them on,” Massa added.
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RED BULL-RENAULT
A promising P5 for Mark Webber in the afternoon, despite an electrical problem. David Coulthard completed the afternoon top-ten.
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RENAULT
Fernando Alonso had a solid Friday; P4 in the showery morning, and P6 in the dry. Nelson Piquet’s pace was several tenths slower.
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WILLIAMS-TOYOTA
Nico Rosberg was P6 and P7 at the end of the two 90-minute sessions, with Kazuki Nakajima slumping to P17 in the afternoon with a misfire. “We can
look forward to a better weekend than recently,” Rosberg said.
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BMW-SAUBER
Robert Kubica slid into the barriers in the morning drizzle, but he was back on teammate Nick Heidfeld’s afternoon pace with P8.
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TORO ROSSO-FERRARI
Sebastien Bourdais didn’t look on teammate Sebastian Vettel’s pace on Friday, but the Frenchman grappled with technical problems in both sessions. Vettel was a solid P7 and P11.
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TOYOTA
Jarno Trulli was P12 in the afternoon, with Timo Glock – who got airborne during a trip over the grass – a couple of tenths further back. “Qualifying in the top ten should be possible,” the latter said.
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HONDA
P13 and 14 for Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello in the dry afternoon session.
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FORCE INDIA-FERRARI
The two VJM01s were slowest of all in the dry afternoon.
