British Grand Prix
- Venue: Silverstone, Northamptonshire
- Date: 8, 9 & 10 July
- Coverage:Saturday: Third practice 0955-1105 Red Button, Radio 5 live sports extra, online. Qualifying 1210-1430 BBC One, 5 live, online. Sunday - race coverage 1210-1530 BBC One, 5 live, online. F1 forum 1540-1640 Red Button & online. Highlights 2000-2100 BBC Three
Red Bull's Mark Webber set the pace as the British Grand Prix got off to a damp start in Friday practice at Silverstone.
The Australian, last year's winner, was fastest in the morning session, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa on top in the afternoon, 3.3 seconds slower.
The conditions meant teams' attempts to discover how their cars responded to the latest rule change were limited.
A restriction has been introduced on the use of exhausts to boost downforce.
The use of off-throttle blowing of diffusers has been banned for the first time this weekend at Silverstone.
This is a technology by which exhaust gases are blown over the rear floor of the car even when the driver is not pressing the accelerator, to increase downforce.
And with Red Bull dominating both championships, their rivals McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes are desperate to find out if the new rule will help them close the gap.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso said before practice: "Everyone will suffer but we have no idea which team will be affected more or less."
The mid-season rule change on exhausts has forced the teams to evaluate new ways to regain the downforce.
Red Bull daubed bright green 'flo-viz' paint over the rear of their car to assess the air flow in the morning session.
McLaren ran a new rear wing and even sent out Hamilton out on a set of dry-weather tyres during the morning session, when the rest of the field were out kicking up the spray on intermediate tyres, to gather data for a "dry" set-up.
But the exact nature of the ruling was still being discussed as the cars went round the track, with Red Bull's engine supplier Renault demanding changes to the initial ruling of governing body the FIA.
A heavy rain shower heralded the start of the second session, and there was very limited action until the last 20 minutes of the 90-minute period.
Williams driver Rubens Barrichello described conditions as "difficult", saying the circuit had lots of puddles and complaining of locking brakes.
The teams tend not to run in heavy rain in practice because they are unable to use the time to discover useful information about the new parts on their cars.
The number of tyres each driver is allowed to use is also limited.
BBC 5 live analyst Anthony Davidson explained: "It's not that it's too risky, it's that there's not that much to learn.
"They all ran in the first session. They're trying to get to grips with new packages and there's no point doing aerodynamic work on a wet track.
"If the track's in this condition they have learnt all they needed to in the first session. Plus they are limited on tyres and they don't want to go out and burn tyres up."
Several drivers survived brief off-course moments, the most spectacular when Mercedes' Nico Rosberg managed to catch his car as it went into a series of slides the first corner.
Despite the difficult conditions, the only driver to crash was Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi, who lost control at the final corner in the morning session.
Jenson Button was the top British driver in the morning session, in sixth place, with McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton fourth in the afternoon, one place ahead of Button.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel - who leads the championship by 77 points - was 13th and 18th in the two sessions, but the wet weather means little can be read into the times.
The British fans shrugged off a grey and rainy start to the ninth round of the season in Northamptonshire and turned out to fill the grandstands and stand trackside.
It was an encouraging day for Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who spent his first session as a Hispania race driver after being loaned out by Toro Rosso for the rest of the season.
The Australian finished just 0.034secs shy of team-mate Tonio Liuzzi's best time in his first run in the car and was quicker than the Italian by 0.209secs in the afternoon.
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento