Practice 1 Report - Sutil tops damp opening session at Hockenheim

Adrian Sutil (1:25.701) topped the first session of free practice for Sunday's German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, the German 1.15s quicker than Felipe Massa's Ferrari (1:26.850). Jenson Button (1:26.936) set the third quickest time for McLaren.

The times, however, were largely meaningless as the session started in heavy rain but the track dried out as the 90 minute session wore on. Perhaps the most significant thing is that at a race when Bridgestone has for the first time this season brought dry weather compounds from opposite ends of the spectrum - super soft and hard - the teams have had no opportunity to gather meaningful tyre data. They will therefore be hoping for a dry second practice session and, if not, then certainly a dry session on Saturday morning..

The weather forecast is not promising, however, with heavy rain showers expected all day Friday and similar conditions predicted for Saturday, when the teams will have their final free practice session followed by qualifying.

Numerous drivers had spins, while Lewis Hamilton managed just eight laps before he had a more substantial off in his McLaren, bringing his session to a premature end.

Largely for the record, the remaining to 10 times were set by Rubens Barrichello's Williams (1:26.947), Vitaly Petrov's Renault (1:26.948), Nico Rosberg's Mercedes (1:27.448), Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso (1:28.114), Nico Hulkenberg's Williams (1:28.193), Tonio Liuzzi's Force India and Pedro de la Rosa's Sauber (1:28.486).