Alonso sets pace in Nuerburgring

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Alonso sets pace in Nuerburgring

Former world champion Fernando Alonso has set the pace in the first free pratice of the German Grand Prix,  setting a one minute and 31,894 second time as Red Bull’s Mark Webber and current world leader Sebastian Vettel came second and third with a 0,323 and 0,374 gap respectively.

Winner of the previous Grand Prix in England, the Spaniard is chasing his second title of the season as well as his fourth podium place, while Vettel who has won six titles so far this season, will be chasing a seventh success which could confirm him as a world champions for a second straight year. Alonso’s team-mate Felipe Massa came fourth, 0,787 seconds slower than the Spanish, being followed by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button who are both running for their second title of the term.

The Britons set a 1,102 and 1,734 second gap respectively, being followed by Mercedes’s Nico Rosberg who is ready to impress in his home country, with a 1,893 second gap. Force India have made an impressive race in the first session of training as Adrian Sutil and Hulkenberg came eighth and ninth, just below a two-second gap. Former world champion and veteran Michael Schumacher failed to delight the warmly crowd, coming 1,969 seconds slower than Alonso.

Renault, which is still struggling for a podium place, failed to shine in Friday’s practice as Vitaly Petrov set a 2,200 second gap against Alonso, while his team-mate Nick Heidfeld was 3,550 slower than the Spanish leader. Toro Rosso grabbed back-to-back position as Alguersuari set a 3,221 second gap with Buemi coming right behind him, 0,256 seconds slower than his team-mate.

Rubens Barrichello also made a poor practice, coming 14^th with a 3,495 second gap, while his team-mate Maldonado came just under five seconds. Sergio Perez of Sauber was 4,477 seconds slower than Alonso, being followed by Heikki Kovalainen of Lotus who set a 4,498 second gap after spending 29 laps on the track.

Kamui Kobayashi was 4,988 seconds slower than Alonso, while Hispania’s Karthikeyan and Lotus’s Chandhok were the only ones to come over six seconds. Finally, Ricciardo of Hispani and Virgin’s Glock and d’Ambrosio came the last. Mark Webber is likely to stay at Red Bull for at lest one more season, according to the Aussie who has played down rumors that he might be splitting with the Austrians in the near future.

“I’d say the answer to that is yes,” Webber answered when asked if he wished to stay a Red Bull driver. Webber is second in the world rankings, but claimed that he is still gunning his team-mate Vettel who leads the table with 204 points, 80 above the Aussie. “It’s not often that you are closing in on each other in the last laps. That was the awkward thing. We are free to race, most of the timeThings have changed a bit the last few races. We need to make it as difficult as possible for Sebastian not to run away with it,” he said.

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