July 6, 2012 in Motorsport

Grosjean leads in wet Silverstone FP1, Hamilton quickest in wetter FP2

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton went fastest in the rain-affected FP2 session. 

Few drivers ventured out onto track at the start of the session but activity gradually increased as the rain eased off in the last 40 minutes. There was a delay when Bruno Senna crashed his Williams heavily at Brooklands. The red flags interrupted proceedings for ten minutes while the car was recovered; the Brazilian emerged unhurt from the accident.

At the resumption Kamui Kobayashi took top spot for Sauber, only to be deposed moments later by Hamilton and that was how it stayed. With 15 laps to his name, the Japanese driver did the most laps of anyone. Like several others, Kobayashi briefly attempted to run on the intermediate tyres towards the end of the session, but admitted conditions were too wet for them. “In the end I took a set of intermediate tyres, but only to get a feeling for them. It was definitely too wet for them. Generally the circuit tends to develop little rivers here and there, and even on the straights you have to be very careful not to lose the car by aquaplaning. It seems we will be having a wet weekend and this might not be the worst thing for us.”

Kobayashi’s team-mate Sergio Pérez took fifth position, though not without drama, having a late spin in the other Sauber. He wasn’t the only one, with plenty of drivers going off and bringing back to the garage very dirty cars that had taken a trip through the mud. Most significantly, championship leader Fernando Alonso managed to lose the nose of his Ferrari as the chequered flag came out.

Behind Hamilton and Kobayashi, third and fourth quickest were the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg respectively.  After Pérez came Jenson Button sixth, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen for Caterham, doing his usual good job in the wet. Eighth was Kimi Räikkönen, ninth Nico Hulkenberg and tenth Alonso. Paul di Resta was 11th, ahead of Pastor Maldonado. 13th was World Champion Sebastian Vettel, behind him Jean-Eric Vergne and Felipe Massa. Timo Glock was 16th for Marussia, ahead of Bruno Senna who managed only six laps. Vitaly Petrov was 18th, Charles Pic 19th and Narain Karthikeyan 20th. The remaining quartet of morning pacesetter Grosjean, Daniel Ricciardo, Mark Webber and Pedro de la Rosa did not post times. .

Free practrice 2

1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m56.345s            8 laps2.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m56.474s  + 0.129  153.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m56.545s  + 0.200  114.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m56.567s  + 0.222   95.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m57.493s  + 1.148  136.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m57.948s  + 1.603   97.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1m58.580s  + 2.235  108.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m58.897s  + 2.552   89.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m58.943s  + 2.598  1110  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m59.015s  + 2.670  1411  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m59.429s  + 3.084   912  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1m59.472s  + 3.127   613  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m59.476s  + 3.131  1014  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m59.854s  + 3.509   715  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                2m00.565s  + 4.220   716  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      2m00.820s  + 4.475  1117  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       2m01.099s  + 4.754   618  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       2m01.348s  + 5.003  1219  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      2m03.719s  + 7.374   820  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           2m04.774s  + 8.429   821  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault                               122  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari                          223  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault                            1

Romain Grosjean went quickest for Lotus as heavy rain caused a wash-out in first practice for the British Grand Prix.

With rain falling across Silverstone at the start of the session, most teams opted to limit their running and by the close of the session Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi proved to be the busiest driver recording 19 laps of the circuit. Jules Bianchi, meanwhile, was permitted a single installation lap by Force India before spending the rest of the session in the garage. Grosjean was almost as busy as the Japanese driver, the Frenchman racking up 13 laps, as he attempted to get to grips with the track on his first F1 weekend at Silverstone. His benchmark time of 1:56.522 came after 37 minutes and with most of the field opting to stay in pitlane during the second half of the session, Grosjean’s lap time was never under threat.Second in the morning session was Daniel Ricciardo, the Toro Rosso man lapping just over two tenths slower than the Lotus driver. The Australian, who made his F1 debut here a year ago, was followed by Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Pérez and Felipe Massa.Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, opted to stay in the team’s garage for the bulk of the session and restricted his running to two exploratory runs at the start and the end of the session.
Free practice 1

 1. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault           1m56.552s            13laps 2. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m56.827s +  0.275   10 3. Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes        1m57.174s +  0.622    6 4. Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari          1m57.664s +  1.112   11 5. Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 1m58.119s +  1.567    7 6. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        1m58.463s +  1.911    7 7. Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari          1m58.483s +  1.931   19 8. Michael Schumacher    Mercedes                1m58.493s +  1.941   10 9. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1m58.942s +  2.390    810. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m59.076s +  2.524   1211. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        1m59.414s +  2.862   1112. Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault        1m59.614s +  3.062    913. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault        1m59.733s +  3.181    714. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault        1m59.787s +  3.235   1015. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault        2m00.125s +  3.573    516. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault           2m00.253s +  3.701    617. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        2m01.834s +  5.282    618. Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth       2m01.835s +  5.283    619. Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth            2m04.341s +  7.789    920. Dani Clos             HRT-Cosworth            2m05.022s +  8.470   1121. Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth       2m11.760s +  15.208   622. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                                       423. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes                          324. Jules Bianchi         Force India-Mercedes                          1

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