Lewis Hamilton spearheaded another one-two for Mercedes in practice, but Daniel Ricciardo is threatening to spoil the German manufacturing giant’s party on home soil.
It was a close run thing between the two championship protagonists as Hamilton finished just 0.024 seconds clear of German team-mate Nico Rosberg following the two 90-minute sessions at a hot Hockenheim ahead of the German Grand Prix.
In scorching temperatures of 32 degrees centigrade, and with the track thermometer hitting a searing 58, Hamilton finished with a time of one minute 18.341 seconds after finally getting to grips with the circuit and the loss of FRIC.
Ahead of this race FIA race director Charlie Whiting caused a stir amongst the teams by sending a letter threatening to outlaw the front and rear interconnected (FRIC) device.
FRIC enables the cars to maintain a constant ride height, and is believed to have played a role in Mercedes’ dominance so far this season.
Following a detailed investigation of most of the systems, Whiting felt FRIC contravenes one of the FIA’s catch-all regulations with regard to moveable aerodynamic devices.
In fear of a rival launching a protest, the FIA confirmed all teams had opted to remove the device prior to practice.
On track it was immediately apparent as to its benefits as a number of cars ran wide in the slow corners due to them being forced to run a stiffer front suspension.
The Mercedes’ of Rosberg and Hamilton were high amongst those who suffered difficulties during the first session, in particular the latter.
Hamilton was comfortably fastest in the opening two sectors, but in the third was off the pace, and so had to settle for second best behind Rosberg.
Come FP2, and after getting used to the new feel of the car, the 29-year-old hit back to narrowly pip Rosberg, who is aiming to complete the best week of his life.
Rosberg, who over the past few days has got married, watched Germany win the World Cup and signed a new long-term deal with Mercedes, is determined to land victory in front of his fans.
Ricciardo, however, may yet throw a spanner in the works as the Red Bull driver finished just a tenth of a second adrift, as close as anyone has got to Mercedes at the end of Friday practice
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, fit again after damaging ribs and sustaining bruising following his heavy-impact shunt into a barrier on the first lap of the British Grand Prix a fortnight ago, was a distant fourth, half a second down.
Kevin Magnussen – driving a McLaren sporting a new rear wing – and Felipe Massa for Williams were both over 0.6secs adrift, followed by Jenson Button in his McLaren, with the Briton 0.880secs off the pace.
Button was in good company as he was followed by two other world champions in Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
After a successful practice outing for Williams development driver Susie Wolff in FP1, Valtteri Bottas returned to the car for FP2 and was a second adrift in 10th.
Marussia’s Max Chilton finished 3.5secs behind Hamilton in 21st, with Kamui Kobayashi propping up the timesheet after his Caterham caught fire out on track.
Meanwhile, four people from Williams had to be treated for smoke inhalation yesterday after a fire broke out at one of the team hotels being used for this weekend’s German Grand Prix.
The fire, at the Hotel Mondial in Wiesloch situated eight miles from Hockenheim, started at 03:00 GMT, resulting in an immediate evacuation of the building.
Fortunately no one was hurt, with only a quartet of team members taken to a local hospital due to the effects of the smoke, but they were soon discharged.
Neither the drivers, Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, nor any of the team management were involved as they were staying at another hotel.
It is the second fire Williams have been involved in in just over two years as the team garage went up in flames at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya following Pastor Maldonado’s Spanish Grand Prix win in May 2012.
