Vettel sets the pace

Sebastian Vettel is ready to take the fight to Mercedes this weekend following two incident-free practice sessions ahead of the German Grand Prix.

The sport held its collective breath prior to the two 90-minute outings at the Nurburgring in the wake of the tyre debacle that unfolded at Silverstone last weekend.

All the talk beforehand had centred on a threatened boycott of this event made by the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association.

The association made their position clear, stating they would withdraw should there be a repeat of the dangerous blowouts witnessed at Silverstone.

Pirelli has at least reacted quickly, and for this weekend only the cars are running on rear tyres with belts made of a high-strength synthetic fibre which is more resistant to punctures.

Just over two hours before the start of the session the teams were also issued with a directive from FIA race director Charlie Whiting, following a request from Pirelli.

After the first session, Mercedes appeared to be a class apart, with Lewis Hamilton narrowly ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg, but with nearest challenger in Mark Webber a staggering second off the pace.

Come the conclusion to FP2, it was reigning triple world champion Vettel who held sway as the teams tested the quicker of the two compounds available for this race.

Vettel said: “The bottom line is, one: we are very happy Pirelli brought a new tyre for this event so they had the flexibility to react in a couple of days.

“And, two: the circumstances we raced under in Silverstone are definitely not we what we accept and should they repeat we definitely can’t race.”