The morning session started on wet track but later on the teams were able to switch to dry weather tyres. Hamilton and Kovalainen finished the session on top ahead of Massa. The only notable incident was Kubica’s crash.

The second practice took part in dry conditions. Lewis Hamilton was again the qucikest guy on track ahead of both Ferraris and Heikki Kovalainen.

To follow Hockenheim weather, you can check this webcam on the track.

Friday Practice 1 Times:

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F1Wolf

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Sebastian Vettel will race for Red Bull racing from 2009 season alongside Mark Webber. The announcement was made today, ahead of Vettel’s home Grand Prix. This is what Christian Horner had to say:

“We are delighted that Sebastian will be joining us next year. With David Coulthard announcing his retirement as a Formula One driver a fortnight ago at the British Grand Prix, after careful consideration, it seemed natural to announce his replacement here at Sebastian’s home race in Hockenheim. As he was already part of the Red Bull family, choosing Sebastian as Mark Webber’s team-mate was not a difficult decision. However, we have always stated that our aim is to have the strongest available driver line-up and Vettel’s selection also matches these criteria.”

And here is a video of the big happy Red Bull family having fun - it involves jumping motorbike, Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, David Coulthard, Franz Tost, few other faces and Hockenheim.

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If you have problems playing the video here you can see it also on Facebook and F1Wolf Club

These Red Bull guys keep coming up with interesting promo stunts…

F1Wolf

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After one year break German Grand Prix returns to the Formula 1 calendar. Well there was F1 race in Germany last year at Nurburgring - but called the European GP (called European due to the dispute over the German GP name ownership). This year the race is back at Hockenheim with its proper name.

The German GP kicks off the second half of 2008 F1 season. We have 3 drivers tied at the top at 48 points and 4th is only 2 points behind.

Testing at Hockenheim last week did not reveal much about what to expect from the teams coming weekend. Two more teams tried out the shark fin engine cover. Unlike their predecessors however neither Toyota nor McLaren plan to use it this weekend in Germany.

Two years ago the weather during the German GP weekend was extremely hot. This is something that Ferrari team would prefer again for this year. Quick check of weather forecasts for the area however suggests the weather to be cool, barely reaching 20 degrees Celsius. And yes, there are chances of rain again. These would be conditions that may favour McLaren and also may help BMW Sauber to close the gap to Ferrari. Both Massa and Raikkonen would probably want the clouds to stay away after their Silverstone experience.

Kimi Raikkonen is a special driver when it comes to racing in Germany. Out of his 9 races (Nurburgring and Hockenheim) he only finished 2 - both in 2006. The most spectacular retirement was probably his tyre failure back in 2005 (Nurburgring) on the last lap, while leading the race. But Ferrari finished 1-2 (Schumacher, Massa) in the last F1 race on Hockenheim track in 2006 ahead of … Kimi Raikkonen (see below).

The German GP is home race for 5 drivers - Nick Heidfeld, Adrian Sutil, Timo Glock, Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg (see the last 2 in the preview video).

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F1Wolf

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Here is a German Grand Prix video preview with a flashback to 2006. That was the last time Formula 1 visited Hockenheim and somehow I also happened to be there.

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Video includes:
- flashback to 2006
- current driver standings with photos
- race preview with Nico Rosberg
- flying, really flying, lap of Hockenheim with Sebastian Vettel and a Red Bull chopper

I have only just installed the video plugin and not everything may be working yet. So in case you have difficulties watching the video here, you can see it at Dailymotion or on Facebook.

Thanks to Mira Polak for quick music composition for this video !

F1Wolf

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Here are some photos from 2006 German Grand Prix.

Highlights:

- Ferrari 1-2 finish, win for Michael Schumacher.
- Jacques Villeneuve crash in last corner, last race of his F1 carreer
- Picture of Lewis Hamilton in his Direxiv GP2 car.

You can view some of the pictures in one of my previous posts (click here).

You can download the pictures here:
Hockenheim 2006 Photos Part 1

Hockenheim 2006 Photos Part 2

Hockenheim 2006 Photos Part 3

Hockenheim 2006 Photos Part 4

Hockenheim 2006 Photos Part 5

Hockenheim 2006 Photos Part 6

Hockenheim 2006 Photos Part 7

Hockenheim 2006 Photos Part 8

You can also download my F1 2006 screensaver, with pictures from Hockenheim and Shanghai.

2006 Formula 1 Screensaver

f1wolf

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