Tom Clarkson
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

On the weekends where Lewis Hamilton has really dominated Nico Rosberg he has been fastest in every practice session - so for Rosberg to take first blood is significant. This is a technical track, so it's a Rosberg-type track and Hamilton hasn't won here since 2008. But let's wait until the afternoon to make any proper comment.

1) Rosberg 2) Hamilton 3) Vettel 4) Raikkonen 5) Verstappen 6) Ricciardo 7) Alonso 8) Button 9) Kvyat 10) Sainz 11) Ericsson

12) Bottas 13) Massa 14) Grosjean 15) Hulkenberg 16) Perez 17) Leclerc 18) Magnussen 19) Nasr 20) Ocon 21) Haryanto 22) Wherlein

Two minutes to go and Romain Grosjean is into the gravel trap after going off at Turn Eight. It's a little off and he is back on his way with no major drama. 

Nico Rosberg is going to finish this session quickest, unless something unexpected happens.

Dee: Fernando being sarcastic, this is your fault.

Fernando Alonso is also not happy, but not because of his car. Instead, it is the presence of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen that is winding him up.

"We need to make a new circuit for the Ferraris. That way they can run around," he quips. 

Image source, Getty Images

McLaren might look to be having a good day so far, but Jenson Button is not feeling completely comfortable with his car at the moment.

"A lot of understeer," he reports. "Traction is more snappy."

No-one will be more delighted than Button to see radio message restrictions relaxed, after he was given a drive-through penalty in the previous race after being informed of a brake problem.

Busy times at Hockenheim right now with all but three drivers on the track. Rio Haryanto, Romain Grosjean and Daniil Kvyat are the men in the pits at the moment.

Image source, Getty Images

Kimi Raikkonen has jumped up to fourth to make it Mercedes-Mercedes Ferrari-Ferrari at the top. Raikkonen then improves with a 1:16:852, but stays P4 with 10 minutes to go.

Elton Lam: McLaren's form is steadily improving but for #Seb5, external to move from Ferrari is wishful thinking!

Fernando Alonso is having a very happy birthday. He is currently P6, with Jenson Button P7 but interestingly both the McLarens are faster than the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, with all three setting their best times on super-softs.

The write off of last year must be starting to feel like a very distant, unpleasant memory for McLaren fans. They are looking much more competitive lately.

Stoo G: Hearing so many beeps on Grosjean's radio I've started thinking of all the fun I could be having on Supermarket Sweep.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer at Hockenheim

There has been general mystification about Ferrari’s decision to split with former technical director James Allison this week. The 48-year-old is generally regarded as the designer you want if you can’t get Red Bull’s Adrian Newey; Ferrari had him, and now they’ve parted company with him. It all adds to the general sense of crisis around a team that started the season with pretensions of battling for the championship, only to find as the year has progressed that their car is as far away as ever.This lack of progress was, in the end, fundamental to the decision to bring things to an end with Allison. 

The word leaking out of Ferrari is that relations with president and Sergio Marchionne and team boss Maurizio Arrivabene had their difficulties, and they had been unhappy with his responses to certain situations that have arisen in recent weeks. Many who have worked with Allison in the past would say he would likely have turned things around if he had been left alone to get on with it, but patience is not a quality for which Ferrari are renowned in difficult times. 

Alex Schnopple: Never had a head protection device in good old days, they raced naturally & look how fun it was, the dangers same, so keep the delay  

Weeeeee! Romain Grosjean goes very, very close to running into the back of Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari.

"XS!$£^! me," fumes Grosjean over the radio, before gesturing at Vettel. He clearly feels the German was in the wrong there.

There'll have been some teeth sucking going on in the Red Bull garage as Daniel Ricciardo totally disregards the advice to "take it easy" and goes wide again at the final corner. Not as bad as last time, but perhaps not as careful as Red Bull would have liked.

Ricciardo, by the way, is currently fifth quickest, behind his team-mate Max Verstappen. Maybe that is why Ricciardo is pushing as hard as he is.

Daniel Ricciardo runs very wide at the final corner and is onto the grass, kicking up a cloud of dust as a result.

"Take it easy, Dan. Take it easy," comes the message over the radio to the Australian.

Image source, Getty Images