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With rain having
fallen across the Silverstone circuit the track would be wet as the teams
prepared for the opening Friday practice for the 2011 British Grand Prix. It
was expected that the conditions would improve as the session progressed.
The big question for the weekend was the banning of the off-throttle
diffuser blowing and how it would impact on the various teams performances.
The tyre allocation would be the usual limits with just four sets of
intermediate tyres and three of the full wet available to each driver for
the entire weekend.
With the start of the session Di Resta would be first out followed by Buemi,
Alguersuari, both Virgin cars, Ricciardo. Ricciardo would be driving for HRT
this weekend, and for the rest of the season except India. Pastor Maldonado
would be first out on the track for the AT&T Williams F1 team as the other
drivers pitted after their installation laps. More drivers would come out
including Rubens Barrichello for Williams. Both Pastor and Rubens would pit.
The track was empty but we would have both Virgin cars return to the track.
They were joined by Heidfeld as Glock pitted. D'Ambrosio would set the first
lap time with a 2m:03.001. Heidfeld would pit leaving just D'Ambrosio out on
the track. He would pit while we had Alguersuari, Button, Trulli, and
Chandhok back out on the track.
Button would pit while Rubens had returned to the track. He was joined by
Rosberg while Button had made only a brief stop. Webber was also out on the
track, joined by Schumacher. Alguersuari would pit while team-mate Buemi
came out. Rosberg would set a 1m:51.590 while Rubens would set a 1m:55.548.
Rosberg would pit while Button would set a 1m:53.081 to be second and Rubens
now third. Webber would move up to second, 1m:51.569, while Alonso would
spin at Stowe. He just had some oversteer that saw his car spin gently.
Schumacher was now third, 1m:51.782. Button would go fastest with a
1m:51.041. But Webber would move ahead with a 1m:50.032. Alonso was fifth
with Rubens now sixth. Rubens had pitted while Ricciardo was eighth with a
2m:03.701. Button had improved with a 1m:50.354 but remained second. Alonso
would also improve to be third,
1m:50.571.
The choice amongst the drivers was now the intermediate tyres while Hamilton
moved into sixth, 1m:53.505. Button would again improve with a 1m:49.651 to
again be fastest. Vettel was now sixth, 1m:52.726, seeing Hamilton seventh.
Hamilton would find time with a 1m:50.427 to be third. Hulkenberg was up to
eighth seeing Rubens ninth. Pastor had yet to come back out as Vettel moved
into second, 1m:49.853. Alguersuari would move up to sixth, 1m:50.613, with
Rubens now tenth. Hamilton was now fastest with a 1m:49.577, but he was
quickly passed by Button with a 1m:49.203. Vettel was now second, 1m:49.390,
with fifty five minutes remaining in the session. Alguersuari was now fifth,
1m:50.302. Vettel's car was running with a lot of flow-vis paint all around
the diffuser. Rubens had returned to the track as we now had Massa fifth,
1m:50.105. Rubens had dropped to thirteenth as Rosberg moved up to fourth,
1m:49.982.
Vettel was now fastest, 1m:49.076, while Massa was up to second, 1m:49.174.
Rubens was on an improved lap moving up to eleventh with a time of
1m:51.349. Schumacher and Rosberg were now in fifth and sixth. Rubens had
dropped to thirteenth while Pastor took to the track. Vettel would run wide
exiting Club corner and onto the new start-finish straight. He would run
wide but was able to continue. Perez would take to the gravel at Woodcote
but we would return to the track and continue. Schumacher would go fastest
with a 1m:48.388 as
Rubens moved back up to eleventh with a 1m:50.648. Alonso was now tenth but
this became eleventh as Kobayashi set a 1m:50.133 to be eighth. Rubens would
pit while Pastor's first lap was a 1m:56.530. Di Resta was now seventh,
1m:49.904, to be behind Rosberg.
Pastor would improve with a 1m:52.258, as Rubens returned to the track after
having a front wing change. The team would be testing a new rear diffuser
with Pastor running in the morning session and Rubens in the afternoon.
Button was back out while Perez moved up to seventh, 1m:49.612. Hamilton
would join Button out on the track as we now had Rubens in thirteenth,
1m:50.536, and Pastor fourteenth, 1m:50.548. With under forty minutes
remaining Schumacher was still fastest from Vettel, Rosberg, Massa, Button,
Hamilton, Perez, Buemi,
Di Resta while Rubens was now in tenth, 1m:49.965. Both Rubens and Pastor
would be testing a new front wing. Webber was back out and currently in
eleventh. Pastor would find a big piece of time moving up to seventh with a
1m:49.526. He would be joined by Rubens with a 1m:49.501 to see him seventh
and Pastor eighth. Pastor had pitted from ninth while Rubens was now eighth.
With Alonso moving up to fourth, 1m:48.952, Rubens and
Pastor were now ninth and tenth.
Alguersuari was now second, 1m:48.678, but this would become third as Webber
went fastest with a 1m:48.185. But Alonso would take top spot with a
1m:48.161, from Webber, Schumacher, Alguersuari, Vettel, and Button in
sixth. Rubens and Pastor were now both back in their pits as the rain
started to fall heavily. Rubens and Pastor were now eleventh and twelfth.
Alonso had pitted while Di Resta moved into ninth, 1m:49.321. There
were now only a handful of drivers out on the track including both Mercedes
cars, Vettel and Hamilton. Schumacher would pit with just over twenty
minutes remaining. Vettel was in fifth and still circulating around the
track. Alonso would also come back out while for team-mate Massa he had some
major changes to his rear suspension.
With just over fifteen minutes remaining Kobayashi would crash heavily at
the final corner. He was lucky not to roll his car as it dug in as it
travelled sideways after losing control going over the kerb. Rubens was back
out as the rain eased. Kobayashi's car was very badly damaged. It would be a
challenge to get the car ready for the start of the second Friday session.
Second placed Webber was also back out as the marshals lifted Kobayashi's
car away. More drivers were coming out with ten minutes remaining. Alonso
would pit as we
also had Pastor back out on the track. Webber was now fastest with a
1m:47.553 while Massa moved up to fourth with a time of 1m:48.438.
Alguersuari was now fifth and Vettel sixth. With six minutes left in the
session the track was now very busy with just four drivers in the pits. Di
Resta was now sixth, 1m:48.730. Pastor had improved to be tenth with a
1m:49.132. Rubens was down in fourteenth and Pastor eleventh as Hamilton
moved up to fifth, 1m:48.549.
The times were coming down with Webber setting a 1m:46.881 to remain
fastest, as the final minutes counted down. Hulkenberg was up to sixth as we
now had Pastor and Rubens fourteenth and fifteenth. Massa was now in second,
1m:48.109, with Alonso now third. But Rosberg would take second with a
1m:47.758, with Massa now third. Both of the Williams cars were over two
seconds off the pace as the times came down. Webber would set
a 1m:46.603 as Pastor moved into thirteenth with a time of 1m:48.809. Rubens
would find even more time moving up to third with a 1m:47.347. Schumacher
was now second, 1m:47.263, while Perez was up to fourth as the session came
to an end. Massa was now fifth followed by Rosberg, Alonso, Hamilton,
Hulkenberg, and Alguersuari in tenth. Rubens would pit while the rest of the
field would also come in.
Webber was still fastest from Schumacher, Rubens, Perez, Massa, Rosberg,
Alonso, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, and Alguersuari in tenth. Webber would stop
his car in the entrance to the old pits seeing Webber get out prior to
reporting this to his team. For the AT&T Williams team and encouraging start
to the weekend with Rubens in third. Pastor was down in fourteenth as the
team worked through their test programme with front wings and
a new rear diffuser. |
