Vettel at home with the weather

MOTOR SPORT:ASK A Formula One driver about the benefits of racing in front of his compatriots and invariably he'll tick the PR box marked "patriotic pride" before the words "best fans in the world" have left his mouth.

For Red Bull Racing title challenger Sebastian Vettel though, a glance skywards at the dark clouds swarming towards the Nurburgring might just have added a ring of truth to the notion of home advantage. Three weeks ago at Silverstone, the combination of chilly temperatures and technical advances had allowed Vettel to skewer series leader Jenson Button’s glorious homecoming with a crushing victory that left the Brawn GP driver shellshocked and hoping that “the Nurburgring is a bit warmer than here”.

Yesterday, with air temperatures at the Nurburgring struggling to climb into the mid-teens and with the track sitting just shy of 20 degrees during free practice, Vettel’s assertion that “it’s special to be here”, accompanied by a trademark giggle will have sent a different kind of shiver down Button’s spine than might have been caused by the weather.

“Being a German taking part in the German Grand Prix is special, just as it must have been for Jenson (Button) and Lewis (Hamilton) at Silverstone,” Vettel admitted, leaving aside the fact the British race was the worst of the year for both Button and Hamilton. “It will be nice to see a lot of people cheering. If anything it gives you more power and maybe that extra little you need.

“Of course there are more people and maybe more attention here in Germany, but in the end the thing that matters most is the racing,” he added. “You have to sometimes forget everyone and everything around you and just focus on what really matters, even though it might be a bit more difficult to keep that focus.

“In the end you can get 10 points, in England, Australia, here. You don’t get any more points for winning here than anywhere else. It’s nicer to win your home grand prix, but there’s a long way to go.”

Button though was yesterday aiming to put some positive spin on the conditions, claiming that the problems of heating tyres which ruined his Silverstone weekend would not be such an issue in Germany as tyre supplier Bridgestone had provided more usable compounds for tomorrow’s race. “Here we have the super-soft tyre, which is good,” he said.

“They work well for us. Even with these temperatures I think we can get it to work well.”

Button’s assertion seemed to be borne out in yesterday’s first free practice session with the championship leader tucking into second pace behind Vettel’s Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber.

Button repeated the performance in the afternoon session, slotting in behind Vettel and surprise Friday pacesetter Lewis Hamilton, who later admitted his performance was not grounds for celebration, with a top-10 place in qualifying today the best he could hope for.

For Button and Vettel, who will, undoubtedly be in competition for the sharp end of that top 10, debate over tyre choice and the cold weather continued, with tyre manufacturer Bridgestone admitting that the temperatures would play a part in tomorrow’s race.

“Maintaining tyre temperature (in practice) was a challenge,” said the company’s motorsport boss Hirohide Hamashima. “If it stays colder, like today, then the super soft could be the preferred race tyre. For the medium compound, getting temperature into the tyre is a challenge, but if you go for the super soft minimising graining is the problem.”

Button added: “I’d rather it was warm, for sure,” he said. “It’s 12 degrees. This is winter temperatures. But the softer tyre we can get working a little bit better and we’ve done some reasonably good work today. I’m not that happy with the set-up of the car and we don’t quite understand the softer tyre yet. We’re definitely more competitive than at Silverstone, compared to the Red Bulls but I don’t know how competitive yet.”

Vettel though was ummoved about the potential of weather upsets. “No matter how good the (weather) prediction here you never know what is going to happen. The best thing in the morning is to wake up and have a look,” he said. “There are possibly some showers this weekend but I think we do have a competitive car in dry and wet conditions.

“It will be a very, very close fight until the end of the season,” he added. “They didn’t have such a good race in Silverstone, and we had a great race, and all of a sudden people are talking more about a closer fight. We didn’t always do the best job possible in the first couple of races, but we are still in a very strong position, and we are here to fight.”