F1 Paddock Notebook – German GP Friday

- Ferrari took a one-two finish in both FP1 and FP2 at Hockenheim on Friday, with Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc each taking a turn at the head of the field. Leclerc ended the day fastest overall with a best lap of 1m13.449s, pipping Vettel by one-tenth of a second.

- Leclerc said Ferrari’s efforts were aided by the sweltering hot conditions that once again hit the track on Friday. The ambient temperature reached a season high of 38ºC, with the track temperature passing 50ºC. Mercedes’ cooling issues cost it dearly in Austria, with Leclerc feeling Ferrari has always excelled in the heat.

- This led to a warning from Leclerc that we could see a different picture on Saturday, with rain forecast overnight to bring an end to the heatwave that has been hitting Europe. This could persist throughout the day, setting up a possibility for a wet qualifying.

- Leclerc reported that a minor brake issue in FP2 was caused by an incorrect positioning of his brake pedal, but that the problem could be quickly resolved.

- Valtteri Bottas said he felt Mercedes had made some progress with the cooling on the W10, so much so that had it not been for the post-Austria updates, it would have been a different story: “We would have struggled massively to run here with the package we had in Austria, but with the new package we could actually complete some good long runs.” Teammate Lewis Hamilton made clear that if it rained overnight and led to a cool Saturday, Friday would have been pretty pointless.

- Perhaps the biggest winner from Friday was Haas, who managed to get in plenty of laps with three different car specifications in a bid to try and get to the bottom of its ongoing tyre issues. Romain Grosjean’s comfort with the Australia-spec setup was such that he managed to finish the day at the front of the midfield, taking P6 in FP2. Teammate Kevin Magnussen had a more difficult time as he tried the team’s new updates for Hockenheim, ultimately finishing only ahead of the Williams drivers in second practice.

- Magnussen lost some track time in FP1 after a loss of power forced him to park up at the side of the track inside the first 20 minutes of the session, causing a red flag. This was put down to a sensor issue that was swiftly resolved, allowing Magnussen to get back out on-track.

- There was also trouble for Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly, who crashed hard towards the end of second practice after running wide at the final corner. While Gasly was unharmed, his car will require overnight repairs, with the Frenchman apologising to his team and taking blame for the incident. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko warned the team was now “running out of parts” after the crash.

- Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff confirmed in Friday’s FIA press conference that the team will take a decision on Valtteri Bottas’ future in August. Bottas signed a one-year deal with Mercedes for 2019 with an option for 2020 on the team’s side. While Wolff was full of praise for how Bottas has performed this year, he also made note of a need to plan for the future.

- Asked by Crash.net about where Esteban Ocon fitted into plans, Wolff said: “Putting a young Mercedes driver in the car would be interesting as well. Having said that there is interest in Esteban from other teams and we need to carefully make a decision for ourselves and with the other interested parties, not only for our own benefit but also for Esteban’s benefit.”

- Toro Rosso’s Franz Tost said he would like to see the team continue with the existing line-up for Alexander Albon and Daniil Kvyat in 2020 after their impressive starts to the season, but stressed it was a decision to be taken by Red Bull.

- All Ferrari-powered drivers bar Sebastian Vettel took a new MGU-K ahead of Friday’s running, each moving onto their second element of the season. Vettel and Ferrari teammate Leclerc also took a fresh energy store ahead of the weekend, with none of the changes triggering a penalty.

- Pierre Gasly and Romain Grosjean have both taken a new gearbox within the regulations, also meaning no penalties will be applied.