The 1st practice at Hockenheim offered positive
vibes for Mclaren, whose Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton set the pace in a
rain-interrupted first session which saw the major upgrades from teams such as
McLaren and Lotus being tried out in public for the first time. Jenson Button’s
leading time was 0.498 seconds quicker than Hamilton, which offers a lot of encouragement
for the previously struggling Brits, although the times must be taken with a pinch
of salt given that Button got the only real fast dry lap that anyone had , crucially
on soft tryes, so what happens in this second session will give us a much
clearer picture of what to expect over the weekend.
Whatever you can say about their pace, their new upgrades - redesigned
sidepods, aimed at improving airflow over the car – have made and encouraging
start and with McLaren having had the fastest car in this session 5 times from
10 Grands Prix, both Hamilton and Button have to be respected, with Hamilton making
far more appeal in the rain than his team mate.
It’s not being harsh to think they had an easy time of it in
P1 though, and Red Bull and Mercedes, the only other teams to have won P2 this
season, will be going much harder for glory. So too will Lotus, whose Kimi
Raikkonen is the chosen man of the two drivers to have a special upgrade (pictured) that
was attracting all the attention in the paddocks through the morning. Raikkonen
didn’t set a timed lap until there was less than 22 minutes to go but he was
just half a second off the pace when the late spin of Bottas saw a yellow flag
halt his charge. At 22/1, if things dry
out, he is a big price.
Advice
2 pts Lewis Hamilton (7/2 general)
1 pt Kimi Rakkionen (22/1 Skybet)
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