British GP: Maldonado 3rd in rain affected FP1

The 2013 British Grand Prix would see the Williams F1 team celebrating their 600th Grand Prix but proceedings would get off to a damp start with the opening Friday practice run under wet conditions. The Williams team had brought various new parts for the weekend but the wet weather may hinder their use. Pirelli had brought a prototype hard tyre to test but given the wet track they may not get much use. The other tyres brought for the weekend were the medium and hard compounds. The ninety minutes session would commence with Valtteri Bottas taking to the track first for Williams. Team-mate Pastor Maldonado would also take to the track along with Gutierrez for Sauber. After a single installation lap both Williams drivers would pit.

Hulkenberg and Rosberg were next out followed by more drivers. Alonso and Hamilton would come out with everyone on wet tyres. There were just a handful of drivers yet to come out with Vettel and Massa taking to the track. With fifteen minutes of the session completed Raikkonen and the two Torro Rosso's had yet to leave the pits. The rain continued to fall with the track now empty with standing water present. Both Williams drivers were out of their cars with the team not looking at running again soon. An hour remaining and still no activity indicating that anyone was going to head back out. With fifty minutes remaining we would have Ricci9ardo take to the track for his installation lap. He would pit as Vergne also came out for
his first lap also pitting after just the single lap. Vergne would comment of the standing water on the track.

Gutierrez was next out but he would come straight back in after checking the track conditions. He would come back out after a practice start at the end of the pit lane. He would again pit and was pushed back into the garage with thirty minutes remaining. Vettel would be next out but he also would return to his pit with Vettel stating that the standing water was bad on the straights. Ricciardo would also come back out with eighteen minutes remaining but the conditions remained the same. Ricciardo would complete a timed lap setting a 2m:00.029 after what was a difficult lap. He would continue setting a 1m:57.992 with just twelve minutes remaining. Bianchi was next out as Ricciardo continued. We now also had Hulkenberg and Rosberg take to the track joined by Chilton. Pastor and Alonso also came out joined by several other drivers including Valtteri, Vettel, Massa, Hamilton, Pic, and Van der Gar.

Several drivers were taking the opportunity to run through the pit lane as Bianchi set a 2m:10.529. With the standing water the drivers were very careful applying acceleration. A 2m:01.682 from Pastor and a 2m:04.646 from Valtteri to be sixth. Pastor was in third. Hamilton would go to the top of the times with a 1m:55.458 to be 2.5 seconds ahead of Ricciardo. Pic would spin at the final turn taking off his front wing against the barrier. A 1m:57.292 from Hulkenberg to be second with a 1m:59.480 from Pastor to be fifth. A 2m:00.313 from Valtteri to be seventh. Both Pastor and Valtteri would have moments out on the track running off the track while Hulkenberg would also run wide at Copse. A 1m:57.401 from Valtteri to be third which would become fifth. Ricciardo would go fastest with a 1m:54.249 with Pastor now seventh. Pastor would move up to third with a 1m:55.354.

The session would come to an end with eleven drivers having set times. Pastor was third and Valtteri in sixth. The session may not prove to be of an benefit for the Williams team especially if the rest of the weekend proves to be dry. With the end of the session it was still raining with the forecasts seeing the second Friday session again wet. Valtteri would complete a practice pit stop when he came in.

Pos Driver         	  Team		        Time     Laps
 1. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m54.249s 10
 2. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m55.033s 7
 3. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m55.354s 7
 4. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m55.458s 5
 5. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m55.825s 9
 6. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m56.361s 7
 7. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m57.891s 4
 8. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault      1m58.859s 6
 9. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m59.719s 7
10. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth     1m59.876s 8
11. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               2m06.534s 6
12. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              no time   3
13. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  no time   4
14. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         no time   1
15. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      no time   1
16. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  no time   4
17. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               no time   4
18. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      no time   1
19. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      no time   1
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      no time   3
21. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      no time   4
22. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         no time   0