HOCKENHEIM - Jenson Button was fastest and team mate Lewis Hamilton second as McLaren dominated practice at a wet German Grand Prix on Friday while Michael Schumacher emerged unscathed from an embarrassing crash. Button and Hamilton both set their times in the morning practice as heavy rain played havoc with the afternoon practice which ended with Schumacher bringing out the red flags. Pastor Maldonado was fastest for Williams in the second session although the Venezuelan was more than 10 seconds behind Button's time in the first. Seven-times world champion Schumacher lost control of his car on turn 12 and the vehicle spun out of control across the grass into the barriers in front of the Mercedes stand. Schumacher emerged unscathed but looking decidedly uncomfortable. He then watched the marshals as they lifted his Mercedes onto a crane. The session ended at that point, although most of the fans had already left the stands by then looking for somewhere drier. "Basically I was not fully concentrated," Schumacher told reporters. "I was on the radio and I was doing some other changes to the car and touched the white line." Intermittent showers had also made conditions tricky for the drivers although the rain was nothing on the scale which caused chaos at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone two weeks ago. Finnish test driver Valtteri Bottas crashed his Williams near the end of the opening session, smashing into the barriers on corner 13 and emerging unscathed to survey the damage.
