Hamilton masters the Nürburgring

On a track that is still cold for optimal driving conditions, few drivers take to the track once the session starts. As usual, the Force Indias are the first to set the base times. Adrian Sutil achieves a good lap (1:33:974) before being taken over by his compatriots Timo Glock (1:33:586) and Nico Rosberg (1:33:198), who are looking to shine in front of their public, on the Nürburgring circuit.

Lewis Hamilton, the fastest on Friday afternoon, confirms that his times are not just due to the lack of competition between the drivers. Before mid-session, he improved the time by almost a second, then confirmed it straight away (1:31??965). After changing tires, switching to soft ones, better suited to the freshness of the track, the Briton improved again (1:31:121), proving that his McLaren is much better at the Nürburgring. Not far from there (1?31??340), Fernando Alonso shows the R19 at the forefront, while the Ferrari do much better than the day before (Massa 3rd, Räikkonen 6th).

Quite far from there, the Brawn-Mercedes confirm that cold weather conditions are not their preference, although Button and Barrichello generally keep it under the pedal. As to Red Bull-Renault, Hag (4th) and Webber (5th) are not far from the best times.