In a reversal of recent performances, Ferrari finished 1-2 while Mercedes ended up 3-4.
HOCKENHEIM, Germany—July 26th—In Formula 1 action, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel took advantage of the sizzling heat of the Hockenheimring Friday afternoon. The Monegasque posted the fastest time of 1:33:449 in the afternoon session, edging out his German teammate, Vettel, by 0.124 seconds.
Lewis Hamilton, who had predicted that heat on the track would cause trouble for the Mercedes, finished the day in third.
While Vettel finished first in the morning session, it would not change him or his teammate in the afternoon session. Hamilton did find his rhythm, but he could not match the Ferraris. Leclerc and Vettel were able to match Hamilton in a straight line but had difficulties in the final sector of the track. Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were more successful in that sector.
The searing heat kept many fans away from the stadium section, which faces the sunlight. Only the shaded sections of the circuit had any kind of an audience during both Friday Practice sessions. A heatwave has ravaged Europe for most of this week, and Free Practice three and Saturday afternoon qualifying sessions are predicted to have rainstorms. That could put the advantage towards Mercedes–or any other team that could get a lucky lap ahead of others.
However, even if the rain does appear, temperatures will still be near 90 degrees Fahrenheit, which could still make driving as uncomfortable as it was in Friday’s practice. The reason? Humidity.
Despite harsh weather conditions, the track had very little activity on Friday until the middle of the afternoon session. That’s when Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly encountered a moment of oversteer in the final corner. He ran wide and went straight into the barriers. The incident brought out the red flag for a few minutes–with Gasly’s car sustaining damage to the left side of the car and the same side’s two tires. The mishap came at a terrible time for the Frenchman, who is still trying to renew his contract with the Austrian team. Gasly has not performed well of late.
As for the rest of the grid, Bottas took fourth overall, while Max Verstappen had a quiet day finishing in fifth. Romain Grosjean improved his chances at remaining with the American Haas F1 Team by taking sixth, while Lance Stroll, who finished seventh, had his best practice day in a while.
Kimi Raikkonen stayed in the top ten with his Alfa Romeo, placing eighth, with Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez rounding out the top ten. The other Haas of Kevin Magnussen finished 18th on the day. With that poor performance, the Dane made his engineers question how to approach the weekend.
The weather will be balmy and rainy for the rest of the week. But it’s still uncertain whether changeable conditions will make much of a difference in how the grid can finish.
