F1: Charles Leclerc keeps Ferrari on top as Gasly crashes

Ferrari completed a sweep of both Friday practice sessions at the Hockenheimring as their drivers led the way again.

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However this time it was Charles Leclerc, not Sebastian Vettel, who headed the times. Leclerc produced a 1’13.449, just over a tenth of a second faster than Vettel managed. This was despite recurring problems with his brake pedal.

Both Ferrari drivers faded at the end of their flying runs but Lewis Hamilton, who was close behind the pair in his Mercedes, set the fastest time of all through the final sector of the lap. Valtteri Bottas was a distant fourth, over half a second off his team mate.

Max Verstappen’s afternoon running was disrupted by a technical problem, and he only narrowly pipped Romain Grosjean to fifth place. However Pierre Gasly was well outside the top 10 after his first run, then crashed towards the end of the session. He was rounding the final corner when he caught a snap of oversteer too vigorously and skidded across the grass into a barrier.

Grosjean and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll continued their encouraging runs from the morning session, each finishing two places higher than they had been in first practice. Kevin Magnussen, driving Haas’s updated car, was 12 places and 1.2 seconds behind his team mate in the team’s Australia-spec chassis.

Alfa Romeo looked in stronger shape as Kimi Raikkonen took eighth place. Nico Hulkenberg, ninth, had to end his session early due to a technical problem, while Sergio Perez completed the top 10.

Carlos Sainz Jnr, the leading McLaren driver in 11th place, also had to head for the pits with a car problem later in the session.

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Pos.	No.	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’13.449		33
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1’13.573	0.124	30
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’13.595	0.146	30
4	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1’14.111	0.662	30
5	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda	1’14.133	0.684	23
6	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1’14.179	0.730	33
7	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-Mercedes	1’14.268	0.819	32
8	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’14.458	1.009	33
9	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1’14.472	1.023	26
10	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point-Mercedes	1’14.518	1.069	30
11	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	McLaren-Renault	1’14.662	1.213	34
12	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Honda	1’14.800	1.351	39
13	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1’15.010	1.561	33
14	23	Alexander Albon	Toro Rosso-Honda	1’15.062	1.613	36
15	10	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull-Honda	1’15.089	1.640	19
16	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	1’15.247	1.798	29
17	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’15.406	1.957	31
18	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’15.470	2.021	28
19	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1’16.900	3.451	27
20	88	Robert Kubica	Williams-Mercedes	1’16.980	3.531	26

Second practice visual gaps

Charles Leclerc – 1’13.449

+0.124 Sebastian Vettel – 1’13.573

+0.146 Lewis Hamilton – 1’13.595

+0.662 Valtteri Bottas – 1’14.111

+0.684 Max Verstappen – 1’14.133

+0.730 Romain Grosjean – 1’14.179

+0.819 Lance Stroll – 1’14.268

+1.009 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’14.458

+1.023 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’14.472

+1.069 Sergio Perez – 1’14.518

+1.213 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’14.662

+1.351 Daniil Kvyat – 1’14.800

+1.561 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’15.010

+1.613 Alexander Albon – 1’15.062

+1.640 Pierre Gasly – 1’15.089

+1.798 Lando Norris – 1’15.247

+1.957 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’15.406

+2.021 Kevin Magnussen – 1’15.470

+3.451 George Russell – 1’16.900

+3.531 Robert Kubica – 1’16.980

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

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2019 German Grand Prix

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12 comments on “Leclerc keeps Ferrari on top as Gasly crashes”

Tango (@tango)
26th July 2019, 15:45

Have Williams taken the upgrades off of Kubica’s car ?
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
26th July 2019, 15:57

Interesting that the Ferraris were also managing to match the Mercedes on the long runs aswell, both on Softs and Hards.
I wonder how the lower temperatures on Sunday will affect the performance between the teams, especially between Mercs and Ferraris.

If it stays dry tomorrow, Ferrari will probably lock out the front row. They usually gain more than Mercedes do between Friday and Saturday (qualy mode) and they don’t loose that much time in the final sector (between 0.1 and 0.2).

They might just have a chance to win the race, which is extremely important for them.
1. L (@lebz)
  26th July 2019, 16:57
  
  If it stays dry, I hope they win (preferably the German boy because I like redemption drives).
  If it becomes wet, i have no hope for the both of them
  1. Esploratore (@esploratore)
    26th July 2019, 19:02
    
    On the other hand a wet race is always more spectacular.
  2. MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
    26th July 2019, 21:08
    
    if vettel gets pole and crashes out of the lead in the rain he will just be a meme henceforth
MG1982 (@mg1982)
26th July 2019, 16:02

If only Ferrari can keep it up in the race too…
Chris Lloyd (@chrisr1718)
26th July 2019, 16:15

Don’t worry, they’ll mess up the race, or qualifying.
1. Brian VanDyke (@prosybris)
  26th July 2019, 17:18
  
  …or both.
2. Niefer (@niefer)
  26th July 2019, 18:08
  
  It really feels legit! 😂
erikje
26th July 2019, 16:24

What a ghastly action (c by others ;)
Kamto (@kamto)
26th July 2019, 16:27

Oh dear Pierre.
RocketTankski
26th July 2019, 18:23

Gastly learned Self Destruct