Welcome back to ESPNF1's live coverage of the German Grand Prix. Next up is second practice and hopefully we'll get another dry(ish) session in order to see plenty of running. A few brief showers meant the track was a little damp at times in FP1 but we still saw a decent amount of mileage from most cars.

Although the early signs aren't good for a dry practice session as reports from the paddock suggest its raining again.

But there's still plenty to talk about as we've seen two big upgrades from McLaren and Lotus this morning that have the potential to mix the order up again.

McLaren finished FP1 first and second as it tested a new-rear end on the MP4-27 as well as a new rear wing. The car also has some unseen mechanical updates under the skin and appeared to help as Button went 0.5s faster than anyone.

The Lotus update attracted a little more attention as it appears to be running its own version of a double DRS. Mercedes pioneered the double DRS earlier this year with something similar to the F-duct of a couple of years ago. The Mercedes system works by channelling air from the rear wing when the DRS is open to stall the front wing. The Lotus system appears to be quite different but also involves ducting with two ducts by the roll hoop that appear to feed the airflow to the rear of the car.

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Venkitesh asks: "Is Mercedes running any update this weekend?"

All the big teams will have some kind of upgrade on the car it's just that some are bigger than others. The Mercedes hasn't generated as much interest as the McLaren and Lotus but Ross Brawn said ahead of the weekend: "We are bringing some further improvements to the car which should help our performance."

It's now raining hard at the circuit so we will have a wet start to FP2 after all. There is a chance of a wet qualifying session, but the teams really need a dry track to set the cars up for the race. If it does dry up over the next 90 minutes or so we should see drivers use a mixture of the soft, medium and experimental hard compound tyres.

The pit lane is soaking wet now. We're not going to see much running early in this session.

There's a pretty high chance that this rain will stick with us for the whole 90 minutes, which is not what the teams wanted to hear.

The pit lane is open but no sign of cars yet.

It looks like Williams has patched Senna's car back together after Bottas put it in the barriers in FP1. There was damage to the rear wing and suspension and it appears as though it has all been put straight.

A man is stood on the pit wall holding out a sign saying "Wet Practice" as if it wasn't fairly obvious.

The latest from the teams' weather radar is that this rain will stay at the same intensity for one hour at least. Not good.

Shatheesh asks: "If none of the cars run for the next 90 minutes, would they reschedule the FP2 after that?"

Unfortunately not. The session clock will continue to tick down, even if they red flag the session. Once the 90 minutes is up that's it.

Good news! Senna has gone out on the track on wet tyres to complete an installation lap on his patched up Williams.

Big puddles and rivers of water are all over the track. Horrible conditions.

Senna returns to the pits. Installation lap complete.

And now we wait ... again.

Vergne says as soon as he thinks it is "driveable" he will go out. It could be a long wait, but the Toro Rosso boys do tend to go out in bad conditions more than some of the other drivers.

Justin asks: "Has there ever been an occasion were there hasn't been any practice sessions before the race?"

No. It's actually fairly rare to get a fully wet weekend on all three days. The races are scheduled to take place during good weather in the host country. It's just that we've had such a bad summer in Europe that there have been more wet practice sessions than normal this year.

Button is having a cup of tea in the McLaren motorhome while he waits for the rain to pass.

Alistair says: "Hi guys, chin up, no rain, no fun,..........except in practice..........doh!"

Vergne has decided the conditions are now driveable as he heads out on the track.

Vergne's full wet tyres are kicking up plenty of spray and are briefly leaving two dry tyre tracks on the circuit.

Rosberg and Pic are now out to on the full wet tyres. Rosberg is warned about a river running across turns eight and ten.

Neville says: "I was at the Friday practice at Silverstone. I believe Pirelli need to review their wet tyre alocation in order to allow guys to venture out. Perhaps the FIA need to allow a 30minute set-up time on Sunday mornings which can be used to convert wet to dry set ups etc. Teams would then see a wet practice as a test session and get out on the track despite weather predictions for the balance of the weekend."

I agree that they need to look at how to get more cars out on track. But I remember being at a wet test day last year at Barcelona and hardly anybody went out all day. It was the final test day before the start of the season so you would think there would be plenty to learn (especially as it was the first chance to use the new Pirelli wet tyres) but the teams just did not want to risk an accident.

Vergne has set a 1:41.135, 2.087 ahead of Rosberg. Vettel is also on track now.

Marius asks: "Can Q1,Q2 and Q3 be red flagged if weather conditions get too extreme and how will the grid positions then work?"

In Japan in 2010 they just postponed the whole of qualifying to Sunday morning, so with qualifying they always try to run all three sessions.

The times are improving with each lap as Vergne clocks a 1:39.843. 13 cars are now on track with Schumacher and Webber joining the fun.

Rahul asks: "Why is that teams don't prefer running their updates on the wet? Is it because of the data they get from wet will not be accurate or something else?"

Yep, that's pretty much it. As the track dries the times will improve so its harder to tell what difference changes are making - ideally they want it to be like a laboratory experiment with as many constants as possible. It's also more difficult for a driver to get a feel for a car in the wet.

Vettel makes an error in the final corner but holds it all together and continues on his way. The drivers are really struggling to keep the cars pointing in the right direction.

It's not quite as bad as the conditions at Silverstone this time two weeks ago and it's good to have so many cars on the track to clear the water from the surface.

Neville says: "Perhaps each car should be required to do at least 10 laps in indifferent conditions. Surely you only perfect driving these cars in the wet by driving them in the wet. Usually we do have 2 or 3 wet races a year."

The problem is that the exact wet conditions we have now are unlikely to be replicated again this year. As its changing all the time, it's more about driver confidence than set-up. In fact, quite a few drivers say they don't change their set-up between wet and dry. Having said all that, we are seeing quite a lot of action in this session!

Schumacher is now fastest with a 1:38.194. Vettel is second fastest, 0.049s up on Schumacher.

Alonso and the two McLarens are now on track too. Massa and de la Rosa are the only drivers yet to venture out.

Sauber says: "Checo and Kamui are running on rain tyres. The rain is assumed to increase again."

Rosberg is now heading out on intermediates.

Alonso is now quickest with a 1:37.395, but Rosberg is faster in the first sector on intermediate tyres.

Rosberg goes fastest over the course of the full lap with a 1:37.285. Expect the rest of the pit lane to fit intermediate tyres now.

There is definitely a dry line around parts of the circuit but there is still some surface water around turns eight and ten.

Alonso, on the intermediates, goes fastest with a 1:34.593.

Hannes asks: "What is the weather prediction for tomorrow and Sunday?"

Wet weather is possible tomorrow but it should be dry on Sunday.

Massa sets the fastest time with a 1:34.576 and then understeers wide in turn one as he tries to push harder on his next lap.

The weather radar says we could have more rain in the next ten minutes.

Ian asks: "Hi, I understand Hamilton and Button like very different set-ups on their cars. Does this make it harder for McLaren to make a package that suits both drivers?"

They have very different driving styles but in recent years McLaren have always maintained that they use similar set-ups. This year that hasn't been the case so much because Button has been trying to solve his problems with lack of tyre temperature. But that is a more fundamental issue with the car and the tyres. Both drivers have their own garage crews, but in terms of updates the team tries to get as much downforce as possible and the drivers then adapt. Button made some interesting comments along those lines yesterday.

Back to the action and Grosjean is now fastest with a 1:30.181.

The lap times are really tumbling now as the track offers up a very obvious dry line.

Each lap is seeing the best time drop by a couple of tenths - Massa is now fastest on 1:29.719, but Webber is told by his pit crew "more rain in the next four or five minutes" .

Hulkenberg has a 640 degree spin after running wide at turn one so the conditions are still fairly unforgiving even if they are getting faster.

Raikkonen is now fastest with a 1:29.327, but as I type he is pipped by Vettel, who in turn is pipped by Button on a 1:28.516!

If the weather forecast wasn't predicting more rain you'd expect a few cars to try slick tyres at this point, but no one has ventured out on them yet.

Rahul says:: "We have seen all compounds used today the only one left is the option tyres. would love to see them too"

Andy says: "Maybe a split Q1 over Friday & Saturday with combined times would force a bit more activity on Friday, rain or no rain!"

Good idea! Just like the old days of Friday qualifying.

Vettel puts on slick tyres but then gets wheeled back into the pits. It's almost like they are teasing us.

And here comes more rain...

Maldonado is currently fastest on a 1:27.476 and that might well stick if the conditions get worse.

Rosberg set two personal best first and second sectors but had to back off in the final sector as the rain returned to the stadium section.

All the cars have now returned to the pits.

Schumacher, Raikkonen and Hamilton venture out on track.

Intermediate tyres are still on the McLaren as he's told not to take too many risks with the conditions.

Juan says: "There is no question that tires will play a role during the race. What compounds are going to be used and what is the respective life span on each of the compounds that will be used during the race? We have seen that the margins between the various compounds are not big. Irrespective the compound teams choose to start the race, they can still be highly competitive. It just depends on car set up and driver's ability to manage the tyre decision. For me the difference is really new tires vs old tires. The gap is enormous, sometimes 5 seconds per lap."

And the teams will have an even tougher time this weekend as they have no Pirelli data from Hockenheim from previous years.

Rosberg, Vettel, Kobayashi, Senna, Alonso, Petrov, Schumacher and now de la Rosa are all on track.

That's the first we've seen of de la Rosa this afternoon.

Kobayashi has reverted to the full wet tyres as the conditions continue to get worse.

Vettel is sticking with the intermediates at the moment, but lap times are a long way off what we had earlier.

Ricciardo is in the gravel at the Sachs curve.It looks like he's just managed to keep it out of the wall but the car is beached.

It was a bit of an odd accident. He just seemed to take too much speed into the corner and understeered wide. He apologises to his team and jogs out of the gravel trap and back to the pits.

Hamilton has decided to call it a day. Presumably because there is not much more to learn in these conditions.

Schumacher is off the track at turn 12 and has broken his rear wing and front right suspension.

The session has been red flagged.

He ran a tiny bit wide, lost the rear of the car and was pitched into the barriers on the inside of turn 12. He went nose into the barriers and was then spun round with the rear going into the barrier too.

I doubt this session will be restarted with just a minute on the clock and the car in the infield waiting to be picked up.

So Maldonado's time on intermediate tyres earlier remains the fastest as Schumacher picks up the bits of his Mercedes and waits for a truck to lift it away.

On the plus side for the local fans, there were three German drivers in the top six with Rosberg second, Vettel third and Hulkenberg sixth.

Thanks for joining us today for live coverage of Friday practice. We'll be back with more of the same tomorrow morning and again for qualifying in the afternoon. For reaction from the paddock make sure you keep checking the website this afternoon.