Home support drives Vettel, Rosberg

Drivers impress in German Grand Prix qualifying.


Afp July 05, 2013
The German pair of Vettel and Rosberg made the most of home support to emerge as likely leading contenders for pole position today. PHOTO: AFP

NüRBURGRING:


Sebastian Vettel bounced back to his best yesterday afternoon when he led the way for Red Bull in the second free practice for this weekend’s German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.


On a warm and dry afternoon in the Eifel, the defending triple world champion and current series leader clocked a best lap in one minute 30.416 seconds.

That put him two-tenths of a second clear of nearest rival and fellow German Nico Rosberg of Mercedes.

Australian Mark Webber was third quickest in the second Red Bull, close behind Rosberg but ahead of Frenchman Romain Grosjean and his Lotus teammate Finn Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 champion.

After the dramatic tyre problems seen a week earlier at Silverstone, where four drivers suffered high-speed blowouts during the British Grand Prix, there were no problems with the new Kevlar-strapped tyres supplied by Pirelli.

Two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso was sixth quickest in the afternoon, ahead of Ferrari teammate Brazilian Felipe Massa, after failing to clock a lap in the morning.

Briton Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 champion, was eighth fastest in the afternoon, after dominating morning practice, ahead of former teammate and compatriot 2009 champion Jenson Button of McLaren.

Yesterday morning’s session was the first to be run using the new Kevlar-belted tyres.

In a move to endorse Pirelli’s switch of tyres on safety grounds, the sport’s ruling body announced it was imposing a ban on tyre swapping and strict limits on tyre pressures and cambers.

In a note that was sent to all the teams, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) race director Charlie Whiting said, “For safety reasons, it will be the responsibility of each team to satisfy the FIA technical delegate that the cars comply with the following requirements at all times.

“Front and rear tyres must be used on the side of the car for which they were originally designated (meaning no swapping from side-to-side)”.

This move from the FIA came after Pirelli wrote to motor racing’s governing body on Thursday requesting that teams are limited in how they exploit the rubber, because that was viewed as a contributing factor in the Silverstone failures.

The chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, Pedro de la Rosa, praised Pirelli’s moves to address the issue, saying safety was paramount.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6th, 2013.

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