Friday Free Practice seemed to belong to Ferrari as both Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc took the honours in topping the time sheets during Free Practice 1 and Free practice 2 respectively. The hot weather at the Hockenheimring suited the Ferrari’s on Friday but things might change as variable weather conditions are forecast for Saturday at Sunday.

Free Practice 1

Vettel topped the session with a best time of 1:14.013. Team mate Charles Leclerc came in second fastest with his session best time of 1:14.628, 0.255s off his Ferrari team-mate.

Kevin Magnussen suffered a sensor issue on his Haas which caused him to come to a stop before the Sachs curve. His stricken Haas was towed back to the pits and he was back out a short while later.

Lewis Hamilton in the 125 Year tribute liveried Mercedes finished 3rd fastest 0.302s off Vettel’s pace. Max Verstappen, in the Red Bull split the Mercedes finishing 4th fastest ahead of Valtteri Bottas who finished 5th. Bottas had a moment on track at the Sachs Curve, just as Vettel did in the race last year. The Finn, however, was able to drive out of the gravel trap and make his way back to the pits.

Pierre Gasly finished 6th fastest ahead of the Carlos Sainz in the McLaren who finished best of the rest in 7th.

Finishing 8th fastest was Romain Grojean in the Australia spec Haas with the Australian spec proving faster with Magnussen only managing 13th fastest.

In what could be called a b-spec car, Lance Stroll in the Racing Point was 9th fastest.

Rounding out the top 10 was Daniel Ricciardo in the Renault.

The mid field is once again looking extremely close this weekend with mere hundredths separating some of the drivers.

CLASSIFICATION: END OF FP1

A @ScuderiaFerrari 1-2, with Sebastian Vettel setting the early pace on his home race weekend#F1 #GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/eYXxwl7idt

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 26, 2019

Free Practice 2

Ferrari once again showed they were the team to beat pace wise in FP2. Their long run pace looked quite good as well with the heat looking like it’s favouring the Ferrari’s once again. Hamilton, in the Mercedes was able to get close to Leclerc’s benchmark but team mate Bottas was off by some margin.

Topping the session was Leclerc with a fastest time on his qualifying simulation of 1:13.449 on the soft tyres. A little over a tenth off Leclerc’s pace was Vettel with a 1:13.573. Hamilton finished the session with a best time of 1:13.595, 0.146s off Leclerc’s benchmark.

Bottas was 4th fastest after a rather untidy session. After having an off in FP1 the Finn was a little on the back foot going into the session and was pushing to make up for lost time.

Max Verstappen was once again the fastest of the Red Bulls in 5th. Team mate Pierre Gasly crashed at the final corner damaging the right side of his Red Bull which caused the Red Flags about 15minutes before the end of the session. The Frenchman ended up 15th fastest.

Grosjean in the Haas was 6th fastest proving once again that the Australia spec Haas is the faster package. Magnussen finished the session toward the bottom of the time sheets in P18.

Showing that the massive upgrade on the Racing Point is working, Lance Stroll finished a strong 7th fastest for the Silverstone based outfit. Kimi Raikkonen in the Alfa Romeo finished 8th fastest.

Making it a top 10 finish for Racing Point was Sergio Perez in 9th with Nico Hulkenberg this time rounding out the top 10 for Renault.

CLASSIFICATION: END OF FP2

Another one-two for @ScuderiaFerrari – but this time it’s @Charles_Leclerc on top

Honorary shout-outs to @RGrosjean and @lance_stroll 👀#F1 #GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/63WFA5M4gz

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 26, 2019