Maldonado tops second practice at wet Hockenheim

Hockenheim (Germany) - Williams’ Pastor Maldonado was on Friday fastest in a wet second practice for the Formula One German Grand Prix which ended early when seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher rammed into a wall.

With rivers of water on the Hockenheim track throughout the session, Maldonado’s fastest time of 1 minute 27.476 seconds was 11 seconds slower than Jenson Button’s chart-topping time from Friday’s first session, set on a dry track.

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes was second-fastest, just 0.088 seconds slower than Maldonado, while last year’s champion Sebastian Vettel was 0.338 seconds further back in his Red Bull.

The session was cut short with less than five minutes remaining when Schumacher spun his Mercedes at a hairpin in the stadium section.

The German was unhurt, but his car sustained severe damage.

Sauber’s Sergio Perez continued an impressive Friday after coming fifth-fastest in the first session, and his time of 1 minute 28.402 seconds was good enough for fourth in second practice.

The McLaren pair of Button and Lewis Hamilton was first and second in the first practice, but were down the time charts in the second session, with Button eighth and Hamilton 19th.

Bruno Senna was able to take part for Williams despite test driver Valtteri Bottas crashing his car in the first session, and the Brazilian was 16th-fastest.

Caterham’s Vitaly Petrov posted the 21st-quickest time, four places behind teammate Heikki Kovalainen, and one adrift of championship leader Fernando Alonso.