It's a damp squib for Lewis Hamilton as he crashes out

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton endured a wretched start to his German Grand Prix weekend as he crashed during a rain-hit first practice this morning.

Heavy rain at Hockenheim left pools of water across the track and, despite being on wet tyres, a number of drivers were sent spinning given the conditions.

After finally setting his first timed lap almost 65 minutes in, it was a session that did not last too much longer for the 25-year-old.

Coming slowly out of what is now known as Bernie Ecclestone Kurve, Hamilton did nothing more than put a wheel on a damp part of the circuit that was beginning to show a drier line in places.

That immediately led to his McLaren getting out of shape, sending Hamilton sliding across the wet grass, and with understandably no traction he ploughed nose first into a barrier.

The man to benefit from the conditions was Adrian Sutil in his Force India, who topped the standings with a lap of one minute 25.701sec.