Hamilton's crash leaves McLaren to play catch-up

There is a lot to be said for rain at a race track – unless, of course, you have to drive a Formula One car in it.

Lewis Hamilton loves doing that and some of his greatest victories have come in the wet. But yesterday it proved his undoing when he crashed his McLaren part-way through the morning's opening session, and had to sit out the remainder of it and all but 12 of the afternoon's 90 minutes as it was repaired.

There was a lot riding on both sessions, thanks to the ban on in-season testing and the incessant race to develop new parts for the cars. Red Bull have regained the upper hand in recent races, and both McLaren and Ferrari desperately needed to make the most of track time to hone their technical packages.

All manner of silly occurrences have kept Ferrari from exploiting the improvement in their car since Canada, and it is no secret that they need a big result before the summer break begins after next weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

McLaren had to abandon their new "blown" diffuser midway through practice for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone a fortnight ago and needed time with it yesterday after drivers Hamilton, Jenson Button and Gary Paffett spent days test-driving the new configuration in their factory-based simulator.

The rain didn't help with that, especially in Hamilton's case when his McLaren snapped away from him yesterday morning and ripped off its front wing against a tyre wall before seriously damaging its left rear suspension.

"Obviously, I damaged the car quite heavily this morning," the 2008 world champion admitted. "It was very slippery and I hit the rev limiter coming out of Turn Three, shifted gear, which spun the wheels, and had an oversteer moment. I tried to correct it and that put me on to the grass, where I was just a passenger.

"The accident took all four corners off the car, so I was a little bit upset with myself. The guys work so hard during the week to get the car ready, and then you get to the track, do a few laps, and total the car, which isn't great. It was a huge amount of work for the guys, too, but they've just been phenomenal.

"It was positive to get back out there and overcome the difficulties I had in the morning. We missed the afternoon's rain too, which was good. Now I have a decent idea of where the car is, so hopefully we can make some positive set-up changes overnight."

It remains to be seen whether McLaren keep the blown diffuser today, and a decision was due early this morning. "It still isn't perfect," Hamilton said. "It's not something you can just put on the car and drive with the same balance that you had before; you've got to alter the balance, and modify your driving style. We're still working on it, but there's potential there."

Button, necessarily, was left with much of McLaren's race preparation work to do in the afternoon as a result of Hamilton's indiscretion, but he was encouraged. "The new floor appears to be working well. We still need to look at the data to see how much of an improvement it's giving us, but there's no negative to it."

Ferrari had a better day, as Fernando Alonso set the fastest time and Felipe Massa in third split the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. With the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher also within a second of the best times the prospects remain for one of the most competitive races of the season.

Hockenheim times: German Grand Prix

Practice (Hockenheim):

First Session: 1 A Sutil (Ger) Force India, 1 minute, 25.701 seconds, 20 laps. 2 F Massa (Br) Ferrari, 1:26.850, 27. 3 J Button (GB) McLaren, 1:26.936, 16. 4 R Barrichello (Br) Williams, 1:26.947, 21. 5 V Petrov (Rus) Renault, 1:26.948, 21. 6 N Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes, 1:27.448, 20. 7 S Buemi (Swit) Toro Rosso, 1:28.114, 31. 8 N Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams, 1:28.193, 24. 9 V Liuzzi (It) Force India, 1:28.300, 19. 10 P de la Rosa (Sp) Sauber, 1:28.486, 23. 11 S Vettel (Ger) Red Bull, 1:28.735, 21. 12 T Glock (Ger) Virgin, 1:28.735, 21. 13 R Kubica (Pol) Renault, 1:28.903, 20. 14 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull, 1:29.048, 13. 15 J Trulli (It) Lotus, 1:29.280, 17. 16 J Alguersuari (Sp) Toro Rosso, 1:29.366, 34. 17 L Hamilton (GB) McLaren, 1:29.429, 8. 18 L di Grassi (Br) Virgin, 1:29.500, 19. 19 F Alonso (Sp) Ferrari, 1:29.684, 15. 20 K Kobayashi (Japan) Sauber, 1:29.690, 17. 21 F Fauzy (Malay) Lotus, 1:30.938, 27. 22 B Senna (Br) HRT, 1:31.720, 23. 23 M Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes, 1:32.450, 13. 24 S Yamamoto (Japan) HRT, 1:32.791, 26.

Second Session: 1 F Alonso (Sp) Ferrari, 1:16.265, 35. 2 S Vettel (Ger) Red Bull, 1:16.294, 26. 3 F Massa (Br) Ferrari, 1:16.294, 37. 4 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull, 1:16.585, 40. 5 N Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes, 1:16.827, 32. 6 M Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes, 1:16.971, 20. 7 L Hamilton (GB) McLaren, 1:17.004, 10. 8 R Kubica (Pol) Renault, 1:17.009, 37. 9 R Barrichello (Br) Williams, 1:17.056, 37. 10 N Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams, 1:17.204, 44. 11 K Kobayashi (Japan) Sauber, 1: 17.336, 44. 12 V Petrov (Rus) Renault, 1:17.547, 35. 13 P de la Rosa (Sp) Sauber, 1:17.573, 39. 14 A Sutil (Ger) Force India, 1:17.701, 38. 15 J Button (GB) McLaren, 1:17.739, 36. 16 V Liuzzi, (It) Force India, 1:17.871, 33. 17 S Buemi (Swit) Toro Rosso, 1:18.147, 45. 18 J Alguersuari (Sp) Toro Rosso, 1:19.327, 48. 19 T Glock (Ger) Virgin, 1:19.553, 30. 20 J Trulli (It) Lotus, 1:20.008, 34. 21 L di Grassi (Br) Virgin, 1:20.106, 31. 22 H Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus, 1:20.377, 37. 23 B Senna (Br) HRT, 1:21.988, 37. 24 S Yamamoto (Japan) HRT, 1:23.066, 37.

Drivers' championship: 1 L Hamilton (GB) McLaren 145pt; 2 J Button (GB) McLaren 133; 3 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull 128; 4 S Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 121; 5 F Alonso (Sp) Ferrari 98; 6 N Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 90; 7 R Kubica (Pol) Renault 83; 8 F Massa (Br) Ferrari 67; 9 M Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 36; 10 A Sutil (Ger) Force India 35; 11 R Barrichello (Br) Williams 29; 12 K Kobayashi (Japan) BMW Sauber 15; 13 V Liuzzi (It) Force India 12; 14 S Buemi (Swit) Scuderia Toro Rosso 7; 15 V Petrov (Rus) Renault 6; 16 J Alguersuari (Sp) Scuderia Toro Rosso 3; 17 N Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 2; 18 P de la Rosa (Sp) BMW Sauber 0; 19 H Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 0; 20 K Chandhok (India) HRT-F1 0; 21 L di Grassi (Br) Virgin Racing 0; 22 B Senna (Br) HRT-F1 0; 23 S Yamamoto (Japan) HRT-F1 0; 24 J Trulli (It) Lotus F1 0; 25 T Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 0.