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Mark Webber, P1 - 1:32.217, 2nd; P2 - 1:31.711, 1st
“So far so good; the car feels pretty good here. Fernando (Alonso) and Seb (Vettel) are really quick as well and you never know when McLaren might turn up tomorrow too. I haven’t been watching them too much today, we’ve been concentrating on ourselves and trying to improve the car with each run, that’s the most important thing we can do. It’s nice if it stays dry, as it’s a bit easier to manage, but whatever tomorrow throws at us, we should be ready for it. I’m feeling comfortable so far.”
Fernando Alonso, P1 - 1:31.894, 1st; P2 - 1:31.879, 2nd
“A normal sort of Friday just like any other. First impressions from the car are good, which confirms that we are working in the right direction. I’ve said it before, it’s not a case of a miracle having happened at Silverstone, because of the regulations relating to the exhausts. That result was down to the many improvements introduced race after race, as could be seen from the fact that, even from Monaco, we had returned to a good level in terms of being competitive and here too, where we are back to the Valencia rules, we are at the front end of the field. In theory, the cold is not a friend to us: in these conditions, the Red Bull has even more of an edge, but it’s up to us to adapt as well as possible to these conditions. On top of that, the low temperatures can also impact on our strategy for qualifying, given it’s not easy to do a time right from the first timed lap. It if was to rain, the situation would be even more complicated. The incident with Michael (Schumacher)? Nothing happened, maybe he didn’t see me coming and then I had to brake suddenly. And then, on a Friday much like any other, a bit of excitement is quite welcome…”
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Formula 1: Fernando Alonso Fastest in First Practice at Nurburgring
Formula 1: German Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: Mark Webber Fastest in Second Practice at Nurburgring
Formula 1: German Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Sebastian Vettel, P1 - 1:32.268, 3rd; P2 - 1:32.084, 3rd
“It was cold out there today! It was good fun, the circuit was quite slippery with the low temperatures, but we did a lot of laps and the car seems okay, although I’m not 100% happy yet. We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but at this stage we’ve got a bit of work to do. Ferrari looks very competitive, McLaren is a bit harder to judge, but we will see. We don’t know the conditions for tomorrow - rain is forecast, but it depends when and if it will come.”
Felipe Massa, P1 - 1:32.681, 4th; P2 -1:32.354, 4th
“It was a good day: we had so much work to get through and we managed to do it in both sessions, without having any problems. I would say we can be reasonably satisfied with our level of competitiveness, even if it’s too soon to say if we can fight for something important. The pace over a long run is not bad on both types of tyre: there is quite some difference between the Prime and the Option and we will need to keep that in mind when coming up with our race strategy. It’s a bit of a struggle to do a time immediately on the first lap, even with the Soft, but I think it’s the same problem for everyone. I like this circuit: there are climbs and descents and a lot of changes of direction which make it fun to drive. Sure, if on top of that you have a quick car then you can have even more fun!”
Michael Schumacher, P1 - 1:33.863, 7th; P2 - 1:32.411, 5th
“I’m quite happy with the work that we achieved today and we are going in a good direction. We are continually developing our car and days like today help that process. It’s difficult to see the real picture for the weekend however; we don’t know what fuel loads the other cars were running and we need to have a close look at our data. It was a really nice feeling to drive the corner which bears my name here in a Formula One car; I certainly wouldn’t have imagined that at the time that we inaugurated the corner.”
Nico Rosberg, P1 - 1:33.787, 7th; P2 - 1:32.557, 6th
“It’s amazing to see how many spectators came to the Nurburgring today for the practice sessions. I love the atmosphere at the German Grand Prix and I tried to wave to the fans but there’s not much space for it in the car! In general, I am happy with our work and progress today so far. It seems that the new parts are working quite well in the dry and I think there is a small step forward. However on Fridays, you never know exactly where you are and what the other teams are doing.”
Lewis Hamilton, P1 - 1:32.996, 5th; P2 - 1:32.724, 7th
“It’s been a productive day. We got through our run-plans well, and my long-run pace is better than it was at Silverstone, which is a good thing.
“We’ve got some updates on the car and they seem to be working, which is also positive. But it’s only Friday, so it’s too soon to draw conclusions - and, besides, and we don’t know what programmes the other teams were running.
“The Ferraris look like they’re up there, and the Red Bulls seem quick too, but anything can happen in the race and we’ll be working hard tonight and tomorrow to maximise our chances.”
Nick Heidfeld, P1 - 1:35.444, 15th; P2 - 1:33.098, 8th
“These were two important sessions for us as we were able to try the new exhaust and diffuser. We had no technical issues which enabled us to work through a lot of our planned programme so we can now make a decision of where to go next with it. As I was evaluating the new parts I did a lot less balance work than I would have down otherwise. We also didn’t do a high-fuel long run which we would normally as we focused on learning as much as we could with the new exhaust and floor. Even though it’s quite cool the soft Pirellis are heating up pretty well so there were no problems in that regards and there was the usual difference between the two compounds. There’s now a lot of work to see what we do with the floor and what happens with the weather. It was good that it was dry today but the forecast doesn’t look as good for the next two days.”
Vitaly Petrov, P1 - 1:34.094, 11th; P2 - 1:33.138, 9th
“I was pleased with today. We did a lot of aero testing and worked on a number of set-ups. It was my first time on this circuit so I needed some time to get know it and understand how to drive here. Set-up wise, we are not far away from a good car, even after our running was interrupted by a radiator leak which cost us a little bit of time in second practice. The soft tyres had more grip than we experienced with them previously. All in all, we were pleased with progress.”
Adrian Sutil, P1 - 1:33.832, 8th; P2 - 1:33.211, 10th
“I struggled with some understeer in the car today through both sessions so we worked hard on trying to resolve those issues. We played around with a few things, changed the ride heights and found some improvements. The morning programme focussed on running with our new floor and everything looks quite positive with that. The afternoon was more preparation work for the race and getting the usual data for the tyres with some longer runs.”
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