A very wet day at Silverstone saw limited running in the first practice sessions for the British Grand Prix today.· Michael and Nico completed a total of 39 laps during today's two practicesessions - 75% of a single race distance · In total, just 396 practice lapswere completed by all drivers today - compared to 1467 in Canada four weeksagoDrivers /Car No./ Chassis No. /Practice One/Practice Two Michael Schumacher 7 F1 W03 / 05 10 laps 1:58.493 P8 12 laps 1:56.545 P3 Nico Rosberg 8 F1 W03 / 07 8 laps 1:58.942 P9 9 laps 1:56.567 P4
Weather Wet... very wet Temperatures Air: 15-17°C Track: 15-17°C
Michael Schumacher"There are still things to be learned on days like these and the positiveabout today's rain was that it is also forecast for tomorrow and Sunday.This meant that we were able to use today to prepare for the race, primarilyon the wet tyres. We also tried the intermediates briefly but they were nofaster in these conditions. The rain was constant, which allowed us to atleast complete some parts of our programme. There was a lot of standingwater, but it was hard to spot from the cockpit, which meant that thedrivers had to be very vigilant. Today's sessions went okay and, in anycase, we know that at this circuit, with its particular characteristics,rain offers us good chances and opportunities."Nico Rosberg"In general, it was a good and productive day for us. We improved the set-upduring the break which helped as we were quicker in the afternoon. It's veryunusual that the weather forecast for the whole weekend is wet, and wedidn't run that much to save our limited wet tyres. The conditions werereally quite tricky out there with all the puddles, and it was verydifficult to find the right limit. I hope we can continue to make progresstomorrow."Ross Brawn"A very British 'summer' day here at Silverstone, and we must say a bigthank you to the fans who have braved the unpleasant conditions to be herefor their fantastic support today. In such poor track conditions, often wewon't persevere with trying to achieve much running, but it was importantfor us to find a good balance and set-up on the wet tyres today as theseconditions are expected to remain for the weekend. From that perspective itwas a reasonable day, and the cars seem to be well-balanced. We'll see whattomorrow brings."Norbert Haug"First of all I have to say that the heroes of today were the spectators. Itwas impressive to see them sitting out there in the pouring rain and lots ofthem cheering instead of letting the weather get them down. Especiallybecause it was quite a challenge for everybody to reach the circuit afterhuge traffic jams this morning - this was like Silverstone in the good olddays! On track, we did not see a lot of running in the wet conditions. Someaquaplaning accidents showed how treacherous the conditions were so it was avery good job from Michael and Nico to bring their cars back in one pieceafter the sessions. Performance-wise it is difficult to judge our level ofcompetitiveness after barely 20 laps for both cars during the two sessionsin changing conditions. Our lap times did not look too bad, so it was apositive result on a difficult Friday, which most likely will not befollowed by better conditions tomorrow or on Sunday. But that's Silverstone,just the way we all know it."
