2011 German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix
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Lap 3: Michael Schumacher has passed Vitaly Petrov for eighth position.
Lap 3: Maldonado is 13th with Alguersuari 14th, Perez 15th, Kovalainen up well to 16th ahead of Glock and Buemi.
Lap 3: Race control has now enabled the DRS, with the zone available on the run around to the final chicane.
Lap 3: Hamilton is now almost two seconds clear as Webber, Vettel and Alonso run nose-to-tail.
Lap 3: Petrov is eighth with Schumacher ninth, Button down to 10th after a poor start, Barrichello 11th and Kobayashi 12th.
Lap 3: Hamilton is pressing home his advantage up front with a particularly rapid pace through the first part of the lap.
Lap 2: Heidfeld has also lost a lot of ground. He possibly had to avoid the spinning Force India. He is 23rd.
Lap 2: A costly mistake for Alonso in the opening complex of corners and Vettel is back through into third place.
Lap 2: It was Paul di Resta that spun just after the start. He has dropped to the back of the pack.
Lap 2: Hamilton's lead is 1.2 seconds over Webber, Alonso, Vettel, Rosberg, Massa and Sutil.
Lap 2: Buemi is up six places to 18th already by the midway stage of the opening lap.
Lap 2: Hamilton begins to pull a gap on the run around to the end of the first lap as Vettel harries Alonso.
Lap 1: A spinner in the middle of the pack at Turn 3 and the field is strung out already as the first lap continues.
Lap 1: Down to the hairpin for the first time it is a fast-starting Hamilton from Webber, Alonso, Vettel and Rosberg.
Lap 1: Webber has a poor getaway and Hamilton jumps him into Turn 1. Alonso is also up to third ahead of Vettel.
Lap 1: The five red lights go out and we are racing in Germany!
The drivers are lining up neatly at the front., with Buemi now rolling into position at the back. We await the lights ...
He makes the turn for home and backs the pack up. They head for the grid boxes.
Webber winds his way don towards the NGK chicane and he's taking them round reasonably quickly.
Track conditions look to be fine for dry rubber through the first sector at the moment, with only light spots of rain falling.
Light drops continue to fall as Webber surges downhill towards the Dunlop curve.
The formation lap begins and Mark Webber leads the field of 24 away from the dummy grid.
Slick tyres are the choice of the pack for the formation lap.
The engines fire with a minute to the formation lap.
Drivers are now committed to their tyre choice, but could pit at the end of the formation lap if the rain suddenly gets worse.
The grid has been moved closer to the first corner this year, perhaps reducing the potential for a crunch into the tight right-hander.
The rain is beginning to fall a little harder once again as a packed crowd looks forward to a great race.
Tyres are bolted on the cars with all wheels needing to be in place by the three minute mark before the formation lap.
There are five minutes to go until the start of the formation lap at the Nurburgring.
Track conditions look suitable for slicks at the moment, although the drivers don't really know what conditions are like around the track.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is leading from the front. His eyes are all over the sky looking at the clouds and potential for rain.
The track temperature is just 14 Celsius, meaning it will be a major struggle to build heat into the tyres on the damp circuit.
However, another large shower is already moving into Aachen to the north-west and is expected to hit the circuit during the second half of the race.
The current shower will end soon and the track will begin to dry up once again in the early laps.
Wet
Even without the complication of rain, the unseasonably cold weather at the Nurburgring is set to play a part in today's race strategy.
In ambient temperatures of just 12 Celsius, tyre degradation has been dramatically reduced, with even the softer rubber looking capable of going half the distance at a decent pace.
Chances are rain will intervene at some stage, meaning teams will be able to abandon their plans to run as little as possible on the harder tyre, which can be well over a second a lap slower than the option compound.
As ever with wet/dry races, being on the right tyre at the right time is all-important, but at least the teams now have some experience of Pirelli's wet rubber after recent outings at Montreal and Silverstone.
High tension on the grid already as the teams ready various tyre options to bolt on in the run up to the three-minute warning.
A packed crowd rises to respect the German national anthem, as it is played out over over the circuit's public address system.
The FIA earlier declared a change of climatic conditions, allowing some minor adjustments to the brake cooling and front wing settings.
The pitlane is now closed. Any car not on the grid by now, will be required to start today's 60-lap event from the end of the pitlane.
Rain is beginning to fall slightly harder and the circuit is starting to become damp.
By: Emlyn Hughes, Geoff Creighton
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