Vettel hoping for better track conditions

Sebastian Vettel is hoping that track conditions at Hockenheim will improve over the rest of the weekend after complaining about a lack of grip on the opening day of practice

The Scuderia Toro Rosso driver ended the day 11th overall on the timesheets, but felt that cooler conditions and a lack of rubber on track were hindering progress.

"It's much cooler than last week and we are not seeing the hot and sunny side of Germany," said Vettel. "I think the rain between the test and this weekend means the track surface has much less grip. The track needs to get rubbered-in again.

"This afternoon, the wind was quite tricky too and you could lose the car because of that.

"Overall, I think we can be quite happy with the set-up and the balance we found, which was based on the data from last week, while today we did a few more tests to figure out what to do for tomorrow and for the race."

Teammate Sebastien Bourdais had an even more difficult day, suffering from a flywheel issue and then a gearbox problem.

"I did not get to do too many laps today, because in the morning I had a problem with a flywheel sensor and then this afternoon it was the gearbox. But the guys did a great job to get me out before the end of the session.

"The track is very different to the way it was at last week's test. So we had to make some changes to the set-up. The car's not bad and I think we know the way to go to improve."