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Newly made Silverstone circuit received some heavy amount of showers and hampered the running of almost everyone. The conditions were tricky in the FP1 but as the time passed track improved and Webber and Schumacher registered some solid lap times to move ahead of others.
The FP2 also started under rain and in the first 51 minutes no one came out of the garage for any running. Some teams did some few installation laps in the mean time. The teams came out of their garage in the concluding stages and some of the teams took the advantage of that and outpaced the front runners.
The session was topped by Felipe Massa and the Mercedes powered car showed some strong pace in the wet. Force India, McLaren and Mercedes were very strong and were in top six. The only causality of the day was Kamui Kobayashi who lost the control of his car on turn 13 and crashed heavily.
Let’s have a look at the Friday Free Practice session performance of each team.
Ferrari: Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso
Massa showed very solid performance in both the practice sessions he was on 5th and 1st place in FP1 and FP2 respectively. The Ferraris mainly evaluated their aero package and the rear wing but lack of dry running doesn’t help their cause very much. Fernando didn’t able to match the pace and performance of Massa but in the dry and was at P7 and P15 in FP1 and FP2 respectively.
Red Bull: Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel
Mark topped the time sheets in the first practice after a late improvement in the concluding stages. Webber was hit by some undisclosed problems in the FP1 but he came out on track in the second practice and doesn’t show and signs of that. Vettel however, was left behind in both the sessions but didn’t complain about any problem.
Mercedes: Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg
Both the Mercedes were very strong in both the sessions first with Michael and then with Rosberg. They were on P2 in both the session respectively. The Mercedes didn’t have any problem in the afternoon except low running and wet conditions.
McLaren: Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button
McLaren showed some strong pace in the wet condition with both Hamilton and Button. However, the home team was a bit disappointed because they didn’t able to evaluate their new rear wing because of lack of dry running. Both the McLaren Drivers were optimistic that in the dry also they will be very competitive.
Force India: Adrian Sutil, Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg
Force India had a really strong afternoon in both the practice sessions. The Silverstone based team showed that they are stronger in the wet conditions. In the first practice Nico drove in place of Adrian along with home boy Di Resta. They were really strong and were at P9 and P11 respectively. In the second practice session Force India was even stronger and was at 6th and 7th place. The balance of the car was looked well and they are looking for some dry run now.
Sauber: Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez
The Sauber had the most busy and eventful afternoon after Kobayashi’s crash in the first practice session. In the first practice Perez looked good in the wet and placed his Sauber at P3. However Kobayashi after coming back made good progress lapped his Sauber to achieve 3rd in FP2. Mechanics did a brilliant job to make the car ready for Kamui and he recovered well after that.
Williams: Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado
About Williams there is nothing to say as they were hit by the weather. Barrichello however, did some useful running and was up into top ten cars in both the practice sessions. Maldonado also did a bit of running just like others.
Torro Rosso: Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastian Buemi
Alguersuari was pleased that he was competitive in the wet conditions and he was also the first driver which started the flying lap in the second practice session after a 51 minute lay off. Buemi was also happy with the balance of the car however, he complained about aquaplanting.
Renault: Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov
Renault didn’t have a good day at Silverstone and was at the back of the field in almost every time in the Friday’s free practice. The bet effort came from Petrov in the second practice session when he registered the timing good enough for P11.
Lotus: Karun Chandok, Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli
Tester Karun started the day for Lotus along with Trulli in the first practice session. Lotus showed some good speed in the first and second practice and Heikki made his Lotus to placed as high as 13th on the grid ahead of Ferrari and Red Bull. Karun also has a good day as he outpaced his teammate Trulli in the first practice session.
Virgin: Timo Glock and Jerome D’Ambrosio
Virgin had a problem free and a good outing and in the first practice they were just 2 tenth apart from the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel. Apart from that Virgin didn’t have other problem and had an uneventful outing.
HRT: Vitantonio Liuzzi and Daniel Ricciardo
Ricciardo showed some improvement after outpacing his teammate Liuzzi in the second practice session. Apart from that HRT showed no problem.
