Maldonado, Button Lead Hockenhim Practices

by NSSN Staff

HOCKENHEIM, Germany – Jenson Button and Pastor Maldonado led the opening practice rounds Friday for the Formula One German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring.

Both sessions were plagued by rain storms that came and went throughout the day.

In the first practice, Jenson Button lapped his upgraded MP4-27 in 1:16.595, which was by fast the best time during the first session.

Button’s McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton was second fastest, clocking in at 1:17.093 to beat Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Mercedes’s Michael Schumacher.

In the second session, Maldonado topped the charts with a time of 1:27.476, which was much slower than Button’s time in the first session.

Defending World Champion Sebastian Vettel timed in second at 1:27.902 in his Red Bull.

Nobody went out for a long time after the rain fell heavily at the start of the 90-minute session, but eventually Jean-Eric Vergne ventured out. Once he hit the track, the rest of the teams followed shortly after.

It was during this time that Maldonado set his fast time, but just as many teams were preparing to make fast laps the rain returned, slowing all the times down considerably.

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Posted by NSSN Staff on Jul 20 2012 Filed under Formula One, Latest Headlines, Top Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.