What we learned from Friday at the German Grand Prix

German GP

What we learned from Friday at the German Grand Prix

Are the red cars on top at Hockenheim?

Matthew Scott

Friday 26 July 2019 16:45

Plenty signs point to a thriller at the German Grand Prix, with Ferrari displaying superior pace to Mercedes through much of Friday practice – but how much does it count for this weekend?

The scorching temperatures seen in Hockenheim on Friday are set to drop away over the weekend, which could be impacted by rain.

Lower temperatures would also play into the Silver Arrows' hands as it would lessen their cooling concerns, which were perhaps to the fore as the mercury approached 40 degrees Celsius on Friday.

Ferrari on form

Both Leclerc and Vettel looked on song at the Hockenheimring, with tidy laps across the day putting them on top.

Article continues under video

That was in stark contrast to Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas both taking many excursions off the track in both FP1 and FP2, while Leclerc's flyer in FP2 also contained a small error.

And more signs pointed the Silver Arrows – half white this weekend as they celebrate 125 years in motorsport – holding extra pace in reserve as Hamilton held onto the Ferrari's in FP1 while on harder tyres, and came home within a tenth of Leclerc in FP2.

The two-team fight for supremacy could even be interrupted by Max Verstappen, whose flying laps in FP2 were impacted by power outages, perhaps similar issues which hampered him in Silverstone qualifying.

Pierre Gasly's revival in Britain doesn't seem to have lasted, however, as he crashed out of FP2, denting confidence ahead of the weekend.

Back to the future for Haas

Romain Grosjean is once again running Australia-spec for Haas at Hockenheim, and it appears that the team's 2019 upgrades have been anything but.

Grosjean outqualified Kevin Magnussen in Silverstone running the old set-up, but the team were denied further data when the pair crashed into each other on lap one.

It seems that going back to the start of the season could be the way forward for Haas, though, with Grosjean going sixth-fastest – within a tenth of both Verstappen and Bottas.

Magnussen, with a heavily updated VF-19, was faster than only the Williams cars in 18th…

Racing Point to prove

One team who brought upgrades that seemingly worked much better was Racing Point.

Much of the RP19's bodywork is revamped this weekend in the search for more downforce, and it looks like it has done the job, with top-10 finishes for both Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez.

Stroll was seventh-fastest on one-lap simulations – could the Q1-exit streak finally come to an end this weekend?