Webber moves ahead on Friday afternoon

Mark Webber has finished Friday on top at the Nürburgring, leading the way with a quickest afternoon lap time of 1:31.711. Fernando Alonso, fastest this morning, drops to second place with World Championship leader Sebastian Vettel third but three tenths of a second down on Webber. As Jenson Button suffered problems, the leading McLaren of Lewis Hamilton could manage only seventh.

Although light spots of rain threatened to affect drivers’ race setup development work, the legendary venue – which lies adjacent to the original track, last used for Formula 1 in 1976 – remained chiefly dry throughout the period, as predicted by weather forecasters.
There were immediate problems for Sébastien Buemi, with the Swiss being marooned to his garage for the entire session after Toro Rosso failed to cure a misfire. Jenson Button also missed out on some significant testing time, having to pit with an issue in relation to a new set of exhausts. Issues of another kind came for Lotus duo Karun Chandhok and Heikki Kovalainen, both of whom suffered off-track excursions.
At Mercedes, all telemetry and GPS data was intermittently lost for Nico Rosberg’s car, although Daniel Ricciardo was forced to return to the pits on foot after a suspected Cosworth engine problem forced him to pull his HRT off the circuit at Ford curve. Other dramas came in the form of a spin at the NGK Chicane for Adrian Sutil, a large lock-up for Pastor Maldonado at the same corner and Rubens Barrichello running off-track at Turn 5. There was also a close call between Alonso and Schumacher at the Dunlop Hairpin, with the Ferrari attempting to pass on the inside but ending up out of shape and on the grass as the Mercedes changed line. 15 minutes earlier, the other Mercedes of Rosberg had escaped a high-speed trip across the gravel trap at the Schumacher S.

On the timesheets, Alonso led the way after 48 minutes, trumping the previous timesheet-topping time of team-mate Massa.
Webber then moved ahead and was never headed again, with Vettel losing time in the middle sector as he came in third. Felipe Massa cemented Ferrari’s pace with fourth place as Schumacher, despite a selection of lurid moments, rounded out the top five from team-mate Rosberg.
With Hamilton seventh and a full second off the pace, the Renaults of Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov both moved into the top ten – a group completed by the Force India of Adrian Sutil, whose Scottish team-mate Paul di Resta ended the day 12th.

Second free practice results - 2011 German Formula 1 Grand Prix

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1.	Mark Webber	Red Bull	01:31.711	34
2.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	01:31.879	38
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	01:32.084	28
4.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	01:32.354	36
5.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	01:32.411	31
6.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	01:32.557	32
7.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	01:32.724	28
8.	Nick Heidfeld	Lotus Renault	01:33.098	17
9.	Vitaly Petrov	Lotus Renault	01:33.138	22
10.	Adrian Sutil	Force India	01:33.211	34
11.	Jenson Button	McLaren	01:33.225	17
12.	Paul di Resta	Force India	01:33.299	34
13.	Sergio Perez	Sauber	01:34.113	34
14.	Rubens Barrichello	Williams	01:34.344	34
15.	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso	01:34.487	37
16.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	01:34.491	35
17.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	01:34.996	35
18.	Heikki Kovalainen	Team Lotus	01:35.753	42
19.	Timo Glock	Virgin	01:36.940	32
20.	Karun Chandhok	Team Lotus	01:37.248	33
21.	Jerome d` Ambrosio	Virgin	01:37.313	33
22.	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT	01:38.145	31
23.	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT	01:40.737	5
24.	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso	no time	3