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| Photo credit: Pirelli Photo Service |
Staging the 2012 Formula 1 season's German Grand Prix, the 4.574-kilometer Hockenheimring supplied some tricky conditions weather-wise for the 24 cars competing this weekend. On Friday, one practice session took place in dry conditions while a second transpired on wet pavement. Saturday's qualifying for the Grand Prix of Germany would make experience from both Friday sessions crucial.
Q1 was started on a dry Hockenheim race track with the Lotus-Renault of Kimi Raikkonen posting a top time of 1-minute, 15.693-second lap. As rain began to fall, Raikkonen's time would be the quickest in qualifying but the several stage time trial layout of Formula 1 meant that slower times in the Q2 and Q3 sessions on wet weather Pirelli tires would shape the German Grand Prix grid.
Almost 22 seconds slower than Kimi Raikkonen's Q1 time, the Q2 session was led by Lewis Hamilton driving his McLaren-Mercedes followed by the Mercedes GP team's Michael Schumacher. In 1995, Schumacher became the first German driver to win the German Grand Prix since its inclusion on the modern Formula 1 circuit.
In the final Q3 session, the 10-car field fighting for the pole position Friday continued to jet around the Hockenheimring on wet weather tires. Recording a 1-minute, 40.621-second lap time, Fernando Alonso took the pole for Sunday's German Grand Prix. The last German Grand Prix at the Hockeneimring was won by Fernando Alonso in a most controversial fashion in 2010. When Alonso was able to pass Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa for the lead on the race track, it was highly expected team orders came into play for the finish.
In second and third place at the end of Q3 was the Red Bull Racing pair of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. While Red Bull Racing has won the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, the team has yet to win at the Hockenheimring track. German drivers Micheal Schumacher for Mercedes GP and Nico Hulkenberg for Force India-Mercedes rounded out the top-5 in Formula 1 qualifying at the Hockenheimring.
The Grand Prix of Germany is set for Sunday at 8 am Eastern time (2pm local time).
2012 Formula 1
German Grand Prix
Qualifying Results
| 1 | 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari |
| 2 | 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault |
| 3 | 2 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault |
| 4 | 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP |
| 5 | 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes |
| 6 | 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault |
| 7 | 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes |
| 8 | 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes |
| 9 | 11 Paul di Resta Force India |
| 10 | 9 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault |
| 11 | 16 Daniel Ricciardo Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari |
| 12 | 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari |
| 13 | 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari |
| 14 | 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari |
| 15 | 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault |
| 16 | 19 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault |
| 17 | 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP |
| 18 | 17 Jean-Eric Vergne Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari |
| 19 | 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault |
| 20 | 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault |
| 21 | 25 Charlie Pic Marussia-Cosworth |
| 22 | 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth |
| 23 | 22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT F1 |
| 24 | 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT F1 |
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