Webber Tops Morning Practice in Germany

Mark Webber

Red Bull did not lose any momentum during today's morning practice at the Nurburgring, as Australian Mark Webber set the fastest time of the day, almost four tenths of a second ahead of nearest rival Jenson Button. It now seems the championship leader was right about who of the two RBR drivers will pose the most problems at The Ring, as Webber finished the morning session more than eight tenths of a second ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel.

The first practice session on Friday was affected in its early beginning by a slight drizzle, that prevented most of the drivers from recording fast laps in its first half. From the mid-point on, Webber climbed on top of the time charts and never let go of his leading spot until the end.

He started improving his lap times consistently in the closing stages of P1, stopping at the 1:33.082 mark. Second fastest but never really in contention for the P1 win was Brawn GP's Button, who finished ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa. Fourth overall was Toyota's Jarno Trulli, ahead of a surprising Giancarlo Fisichella who, at one point, was trailing Webber for the lead in the second half of the session.

Local favorite Sebastian Vettel only got to drive his RB5 for 10 laps on Friday morning, as he brought his car to a halt in the very first corner of the circuit. Force India's Adrian Sutil did the same after 7 laps, with his car halting to the ground in the first corner.

Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg finished the P1 in 6th and 7th respectively, while followed by Vettel, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso.

Here are the complete times of today's practice session:

1. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)                          1:33.082
2. Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes)                         1:33.463
3. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)                                           1:33.745
4. Jarno Trulli (Toyota)                                               1:33.795
5. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes)         1:33.839
6. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)                                        1:33.840
7. Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)                             1:33.902
8. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault)                       1:33.909
9. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota)                        1:33.952
10. Fernando Alonso (Renault)                                  1:34.148
11. Nick Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber)                                1:34.221
12. Rubens Barrichello (Brawn-Mercedes)                 1:34.227
13. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)                   1:34.483
14. Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber)                              1:34.694
15. Nelson Piquet (Renault)                                        1:34.738
16. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)              1:34.827
17. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)                  1:34.878
18. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes)                1:34.893
19. Timo Glock (Toyota)                                               1:34.911
20. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)                      1:35.092