Hamilton and Button way off pace in German GP practice as McLaren duo toil

Published on Friday 22 July 2011 16:28

LEWIS Hamilton ruled out pole position for McLaren this weekend after the Briton and team-mate Jenson Button again laboured in practice at the German Grand Prix yesterday.

The 2008 world champion, who was also fined €1,200 for speeding in the pitlane, was around a second behind pacesetters Mark Webber of Red Bull and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

"We definitely can't challenge for pole, having said that we don't know what fuel (load] they are on," he said. "I think our race pace is perhaps closer than we had in the last race (at Silverstone] which is a good thing but over a single lap, they have definitely got about a second on us. We are pushing as hard as we can, the car's feeling pretty good."

While Hamilton was seventh quickest in the second session, Button could only manage the 11th best time, and the pair now realise that any hope of a title tilt this year is all but over.

With ten races remaining, both McLaren drivers are 95 points adrift of Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel. "It was one to forget, it's been a pretty tricky day," said Hamilton, fearing rain for today's qualifying and possibly tomorrow's race. "All afternoon I haven't had KERS. I had a problem with the exhaust but it's a test part on the car and it failed."

Alonso topped the timesheet in the morning session as his momentum following his British Grand Prix success 12 days ago spilled over onto the Nurburgring, but then the double world champion had to settle for second-best in the 90-minute afternoon run.

The Spaniard had continued to lead the way up until around 20 minutes to go when Webber, who grabbed his maiden pole and win on this circuit two years ago, set the pace.

The 34-year-old Australian edged out Alonso by 0.168 seconds in setting a time of one minute 31.711 seconds for the 3.198-mile track that nestles in the shadow of the Eifel mountains.

Webber's time was apparently set with his car in qualifying trim, although it is almost certain there will still be more to come.

Behind Alonso was reigning champion Vettel, who leads this year's title race by 80 points. The 24-year-old, chasing his first win on home soil, found himself a third of a second behind Webber, with Felipe Massa completing the top four in the second Ferrari, as he did earlier in the day.

The Mercedes duo of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, who had complained of a lack of balance in the morning, appeared to find a more stable car beneath them in the second session.

The seven-times champion and his team-mate improved to fifth and sixth on the timesheet, the former just 0.7secs off Webber.