Tom Clarkson
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

Nico Rosberg musn't focus on Lewis Hamilton. We all know how good Hamilton is. In a wheel-to-wheel race it is invariably Hamilton who comes out in front. The way Rosberg's going to beat Hamilton this year is by out-qualifying him and disappearing into the distance on race day. That's how he must go about winning this championship.

Image source, Getty Images

A special moment for Pascal Wehrlein. He saw his first-ever F1 race at Hockenheim back in 2000, and now he gets to race on the track that gave him the racing bug.

Rubens Barrichello won that race 16 years ago, with Michael Schumacher retiring after a crash on lap one at the first corner.

Image source, Getty Images

This is good for the home fans - there's now two German drivers at the top of the timesheet. Sebastian Vettel briefly goes quickest after a 1:17.409 but he is nudged down to P2 by Nico Rosberg after a 1:17.136 from the Mercedes driver.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Something tells me this fan will be happy with Daniel Ricciardo's showing so far. 

Kimi Raikkonen goes quicker, clocking a 1:17.627 but that time was set on the supersofts.

Of more interest is the fact Daniel Ricciardo has just gone second quickest. He's done a 1:17.698, which is 0.071s quicker than Lewis Hamilton with both setting their best times on softs.

Image source, Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton runs wide at the first corner, but it is merely a blip on his way to producing the fastest lap of the session so far - a 1:17.949 on softs.

Jack Nicholls and Tom Clarkson are having a fascinating chat about the halo. Tune in via 5 live sports extra, or listen via the live coverage tab on this page.

Pew, pew. 

Lots of lovely sparks as Max Verstappen flies around the circuit to get his first time of the session on the board, a 1:19.409 set on softs. 

Actually, pew, pew is the sound of lasers, isn't it? What noise do sparks make?

Jolyon Palmer is sitting out this session, with Esteban Ocon getting a run out for Renault this morning. Jennie Gow has nabbed the Brit for a quick word about the decision to delay the introduction of a halo head protection system.

"I'm against it so I'm not disappointed by the ruling," says Palmer. "F1 safety is very good at the moment. We have very big run offs, I am pretty happy with the safety levels we have at the moment.

"I don't know where 95% were in favour came from. We never had a proper vote on it. I can tell you for a fact that 95% don't support it.

"It is personal preference, I know a lot of the drivers, especially the younger ones, are in the same camp as me."

James Perkins: Massive padding on jockeys ? Head guards on boxers ? Got to keep a risk element. That's part of the point.

Image source, Getty Images

Yes, Nando!

Great hats. Great cake.

It's all quiet at Hockenheim after that flurry of installation laps.

We've got one time on the board, courtesy of birthday boy Fernando Alonso. He's clocked a 1:18.817 on supersofts.

Of course, I can't mention Leclerc without...

There's a couple of driver changes again. Esteban Ocon is in the Renault, replacing Jolyon Palmer, while Charles Leclerc jumps in the Haas as Esteban Gutierrez gets to enjoy a leisurely breakfast.

Several drivers are out on the track and there's a mixture of compounds out on show. We've got the majority on mediums, but a couple on softs and supersofts.

The track is open and off we go with a bit of practice at Hockenheim for the first time in two years.