Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel began preparations for his home event on top of the timesheets as he led the way in the first practice session for the German Grand Prix.
Vettel has never taken a Formula 1 victory at Hockenheim – famously crashing out of the lead 12 months ago – but vaulted to the front of the pack with a time of 1:14.013 on Friday lunchtime.
That left him 0.255s clear of team-mate Charles Leclerc, as the Ferrari pair utilised their Soft tyres to good effect, claiming a 1-2 in hot conditions at Hockenheim.
Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas set their best time on Medium tyres and each had a couple of wild moments across the wide kerbs as they wound up third and fifth respectively.
Bottas’ hairiest moment came during the closing stages when he locked up and went wide at Sachs Kurve, but he was able to get out of the gravel trap and return to the pit lane.
Max Verstappen split the Red Bull drivers in fourth spot while team-mate Pierre Gasly finished sixth, half a second down on the Dutchman.
McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. narrowly eclipsed Romain Grosjean to front the midfield group, with the Haas driver running the Melbourne-spec VF-19 as part of the team’s bid to understand its recent weaknesses.
Racing Point introduced revisions to its RP19 and displayed an upturn in pace through the first practice session, with both drivers clocking their best times on the Medium compound.
Lance Stroll finished ninth, a tenth down on Grosjean, while Sergio Perez took 11th, the duo sandwiching Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo, who had a high-speed spin through Turn 1 late on.
Lando Norris took 12th while Kevin Magnussen, running the latest version Haas VF-19, recovered to 13th spot after stopping on track during the early minutes of the session.
Toro Rosso took 14th and 15th respectively, Daniil Kvyat in front of Alexander Albon, with Nico Hulkenberg complaining of a problem with his Renault R.S.19 en route to 16th.
Alfa Romeo was a lowly 17th and 18th, Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi, leaving the pair faster than only the Williams drivers.
Robert Kubica trialled Williams’ aerodynamic update package, with the FW42 often taking to the track with substantial flo-viz paint, adding some different colours to the white-and-blue livery.
Kubica finished the session 19th, but did so six-tenths clear of team-mate George Russell, who remained with the old-spec car in order to facilitate a back-to-back comparison.
Friday’s second 90-minute practice session is scheduled for 15:00 local time
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