Germany – Free Practice 2: Maldonado Ahead of the Rain

It is not only in England that the weather can disrupt a Grand Prix weekend. In Germany too, a wet track awaited the drivers for the start of Free Practice 2. This did not prevent Bruno Senna from taking to the track in his Williams for an installation lap.

It will be about 20 minutes before we see the cars back on track. Vergne, Pic, Rosberg, and Vettel leave the pits to test the conditions. Vergne and Rosberg keep trading places at the top of the standings. After the first 30 minutes, it’s the Chinese Grand Prix winner who holds the best time at 1:39.021.

The qualifying session set to take place in wet conditions tomorrow afternoon, there is a lot of activity on the track. It’s an opportunity to see some maneuvers from Sebastian Vettel or Paul di Resta.

As the laps progress, the track dries up and lap times drop. Midway through, it’s Fernando Alonso who holds the first position with a 1:34.593, ahead of Rosberg, Vettel, Pérez, and Hamilton. The top two are on intermediate tires. This choice quickly becomes widespread, resulting in yet another drop in times. In less than 2 minutes, Pérez falls from first position to eighth place.

In the last 30 minutes, the race direction authorizes the use of DRS, allowing drivers to go even faster. Maldonado takes advantage of this to set the fastest time in 1:27.476. But the celebration will be short-lived as rain reappears on the Hockenheim circuit. Times will not improve in the last 25 minutes. This does not prevent many drivers from returning to the track, such as Hamilton or Räikkönen, for example. At the end of the session, Michael Schumacher crashes his Mercedes GP at the entrance of the Stadium, which triggers the red flag and consequently the end of this free practice 2.

At the end of this second free practice session, it’s Pastor Maldonado who recorded the fastest time ahead of Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Pérez, and Romain Grosjean.

Results of Free Practice 2 – 2012 German Grand Prix: