Rosberg won the last Formula One race on the Hockenheim course two years ago and was 0.326 seconds faster than his Mercedes teammate.
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Just five days after losing the lead in this year’s championship for the first time, it was a ideal bounce-back by the 31-year-old Mercedes man.
That view was echoed by the other team representatives in the room, with Otmar Szafnauer, the chief operating officer of Force India, adding: “The more we test, the more we learn and the better the solution is going to be”.
“I think what they are going to do is they are are going to try and work on improvements for the future”. “It’s been a straightforward day with no real surprises”.
The Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, making his 100th grand prix appearance in the sport this weekend, were fifth and sixth respectively.
Button went to the circuit medical centre complaining of eye irritation and from there he was transferred to hospital in Mannheim.
The team’s reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who replaced two-time champion Fernando Alonso at the Belgian Grand Prix in April, is on stand-by.
Meanwhile, Formula One’s race director Charlie Whiting said that red flags will replace waved double yellows in the event of hazardous incidents in qualifying.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix, there was controversy generated by Nico Rosberg after he set the pole lap under the double yellow flags. That would have been a double waved yellow flag in that second sector. “It was just not a great lap, so I am not particularly anxious.
But we can’t ignore the fact that that is a growing solution which will be safer for us, which I don’t think they will”.
The rules say a driver must slow down significantly and be prepared to change direction or stop.
“I am very much a believer in waves, and I’ve finally got on a good wave in the last six races”.
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The German, a victor of the opening four races, is now on the back foot in his pursuit of a first championship, after seeing his hearty 43-point lead turn into a six-point deficit.
