Red Bull Racing topped both of Friday’s practice sessions for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Sebastien Vettel was quickest in FP1, his best time of 1:32.280 almost four tenths quicker than anyone else, while team-mate Mark Webber topped the timesheets in FP2, lowering Vettel’s time by more than one second while maintaining a four-tenths advantage to the next quickest driver.
Webber’s soft-tyre run of 1:31.234 was good enough for top spot despite the Australian missing the last 15 minutes of the session with an electrical issue.
Lewis Hamilton was second fastest for McLaren in the morning session, ahead of Renault’s Robert Kubica, Webber and Force India’s Adrian Sutil, but he could only manage eighth in the afternoon, 1.5 seconds slower than the lead Red Bull, and went off twice at Becketts.
Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were both off the pace in the first session, posting times only good enough for 13th and 17th respectively, but the Ferrari duo bounced back in the afternoon, with Alonso second quickest and Massa fourth, sandwiching Vettel’s Red Bull.
Several drivers had problems in the new Arena section of the circuit. Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher was the first to spin at Farm in FP1, while Hamilton, Massa, Nico Hulkenberg, Sutil and Fairuz Fauzy also had off-track moments at the same corner.
Fauzy’s return to the cockpit was delayed when his Lotus suffered an engine failure at the start of the morning, although he did get some running later in the session.
It wasn’t such good news for Jarno Trulli, who gave up his seat to the Malaysian in FP1. The Italian was due to get his first look at the new Silverstone layout in the afternoon session, but managed just three laps before being sidelined with gearbox trouble.
Team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was the fastest of the new teams’ drivers in both sessions, but also hit trouble, stopping on track in FP2 with power steering failure.
British Grand Prix Friday practice times
FP 1
1 Sebastien Vettel, Red Bull-Renault, 1:32.280 (22 laps)
2 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes, 1:32.614 (16)
3 Robert Kubica, Renault, 1:32.725 (21)
4 Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault, 1:32.747 (23)
5 Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes, 1:32.968 (18)
6 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:33.318 (21)
7 Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth, 1:33.377 (19)
8 Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes, 1:33.519 (20)
9 Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:33.955 (18)
10 Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth, 1:34.016 (17)
11 Sebastien Buemi, STR-Ferrari, 1:34.132 (21)
12 Vitaly Petrov, Renault, 1:34.365 (22)
13 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:34.490 (20)
14 Paul di Resta, Force India-Mercedes, 1:34.580 (22)
15 Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari, 1:34.710 (16)
16 Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber-Ferrari, 1:34.901 (17)
17 Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:35,037 (21)
18 Jaime Alguersuari, STR-Ferrari, 1:35.318 (27)
19 Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth, 1:36.747 (16)
20 Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth, 1:37.330 (11)
21 Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth, 1:37.518 (15)
22 Karun Chandhok, HRT-Cosworth, 1:38.735 (21)
23 Fairuz Fauzy, Lotus-Cosworth, 1:39.510 (11)
24 Sakon Yamomoto (HRT-Cosworth), 1:39.673 (27)
FP 2
1 Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault, 1:31.234 (15)
2 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:31.626 (26)
3 Sebastien Vettel, Red Bull-Renault, 1:31.875 (24)
4 Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:32.099 (25)
5 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:32.166 (29)
6 Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:32.660 (27)
7 Vitaly Petrov, Renault, 1:32.745 (28)
8 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes, 1:32.757 (22)
9 Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes, 1:32.787 (27)
10 Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth, 1:32.967 (32)
11 Robert Kubica, Renault, 1:33.019 (30)
12 Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth, 1:33.164 (28)
13 Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes, 1:33.200 (24)
14 Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari, 1:33.402 (23)
15 Vitantonio Luizzi, Force India-Mercedes, 1:33.728 (27)
16 Sebastien Buemi, STR-Ferrari, 1:33.836 (36)
17 Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber-Ferrari, 1:34.051 (29)
18 Jaime Alguersuari, STR-Ferrari, 1:34.643 (36)
19 Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth, 1:35.465 (25)
20 Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth, 1:36.237 (24)
21 Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth, 1:36.553 (21)
22 Karun Chandhok, HRT-Cosworth, 1:37.019 (27)
23 Sakon Yamomoto (HRT-Cosworth), 1:38.303 (32)
24 Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Cosworth, 1:42.901 (3)
For a full British GP preview watch Inside Grand Prix on Motors TV. Next screening – tonight at 0:30am (BST).
Andy Wilkinson
Follow Motors TV on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
Click here for a chance to win VIP tickets to the British GT Championship at Silverstone
International
