Button fastest in rain-hit German Grand Prix first practice
July 20th, 2012 - 6:32 pm ICT by IANSHockenheim (Germany), July 20 (IANS/RIA Novosti) McLaren driver Jenson Button set the pace in the rain-hit first practice session of the German Grand Prix by clocking the fastest time here Friday.
Button set a time of 1:16.595 early in the session, before rain made the circuit slippery and stopped any of the teams setting competitive times for almost an hour.
As the track dried, teammate Lewis Hamilton posted a time of 1:17.093 clinching second place raising hopes of a McLaren resurgence after the British team fell off the pace in recent races. “Early days, but a positive start,” the team tweeted.
Championship leader Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was third, almost three tenths of a second slower than Hamilton, while Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were 12th and 20th, respectively.
Despite the drying track, Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas slid into the barriers, damaging the rear end of the car he had borrowed from Bruno Senna for the session.
Russian driver Vitaly Petrov completed 24 laps, posting a fastest time of 1:19.674, which was enough to finish 18th, one place and 0.289 seconds ahead of teammate Heikki Kovalainen.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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Tags: bruno senna, championship leader, driver jenson button, fastest time, fernando alonso, german grand prix, jenson button, lewis hamilton, mark webber, mclaren driver, practice session, rear end, resurgence, ria novosti, russian driver, sebastian vettel, senna, tenths, test driver, vitaly petrov