Fernando Alonso was fastest in the second German Grand Prix practice session, as the weather failed to impact on proceedings.
Although the track remained damp at the start of practice, all of the drivers emerged on slick tyres and attempted to get as much dry running as possible.
Adrian Sutil started the session as he had left off in the morning by topping the session early on. However, the Force India driver was powerless to prevent the Ferrari’s of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa rising to the top of the timesheets.
Although rain did come on the hour mark, it would not be heavy enough to hinder the drivers, with lap times continuing to tumble.
Subsequently, the session would soon develop into a personal battle between Alonso and Mark Webber in the Red Bull.
With around fifty minutes remaining the latter, now on the option tyre, would rocket to the top of the times to break into one minute seventeen second bracket.
However, Alonso would quickly respond, as the times continued to tumble with the Spaniard setting the session’s benchmark time of 1:16.265 with thirty-seven minutes remaining.
Consequently, the only man to get close to the Ferrari was the sister Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, who was forced to rallycross his way through the gravel trap at turn 12, after running wide.
However, undeterred by his off, the local hero continued to push hard in his RB6 and eventually finished the session with a time only 0.029 shy of Alonso’s.
Nico Rosberg was fifth for Mercedes, with team-mate Michael Schumacher vastly improving from his disappointing morning session to set the sixth fastest time.
Although incurring a major delay, as mechanics worked strenuously to repair his broken MP4-25, Lewis Hamilton managed to record a ten-lap run towards the end of the session and set the seventh fastest time.
Team-mate Jenson Button appeared to concentrate on longer runs, completing thirty-six on his way to fifteenth place.
Despite a number of drivers being forced to wrestle their cars through the remaining puddles which littered the circuit, the session passed without drama with the failure of Jarno Trulli’s Lotus the only concern.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Alonso Ferrari 1:16.265 35 2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:16.294 + 0.029 26 3. Massa Ferrari 1:16.438 + 0.173 37 4. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:16.585 + 0.320 40 5. Rosberg Mercedes 1:16.827 + 0.562 32 6. Schumacher Mercedes 1:16.971 + 0.706 20 7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.004 + 0.739 10 8. Kubica Renault 1:17.009 + 0.744 37 9. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:17.056 + 0.791 37 10. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:17.204 + 0.939 44 11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:17.336 + 1.071 44 12. Petrov Renault 1:17.547 + 1.282 35 13. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:17.573 + 1.308 39 14. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:17.701 + 1.436 38 15. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.739 + 1.474 36 16. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:17.871 + 1.606 33 17. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:18.147 + 1.882 45 18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:19.327 + 3.062 48 19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:19.553 + 3.288 30 20. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:20.008 + 3.743 34 21. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:20.106 + 3.841 31 22. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:20.377 + 4.112 37 23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:21.988 + 5.723 37 24. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:23.066 + 6.801 37
