10/07/2010
NEWS STORY
Ahead of this morning's free practice session, the air temperature is 22 degrees C, while the track temperature is 26 degrees. It is bright, sunny and already quite warm.
Red Bull dominated yesterday and with McLaren's much anticipated upgrade failing to close the gap, the Woking team has opted to drop a number of new components, including the controversial blown diffuser, for the remainder of the weekend. However, the team will persevere with its new front wing.
For the most part the drivers are happy with the revised Silverstone track, however, the numerous bumps - particularly at Abbey (Turn 11) and Village (13) are causing problems. A number of drivers had offs yesterday, partly due to the bumps and partly due to the cross winds, however, Hamilton appeared to suffer more than most, the Englishman having numerous excursions at the Maggots/Becketts complex.
There has also been talk of drivers being unhappy about some of the kerbs - Maggotts, Vale and Club - however, internet reports that these were modified overnight are unsubstantiated and we are currently awaiting confirmation from the FIA, who initially told us they were not aware of any changes.
Although yesterday was 'only' Friday, red Bull appears to have the edge though McLaren and the rest will be keen to close the gap.
It's understood that more than 85,000 fans were in attendance yesterday, the sort of race day attendance many of the new tracks can only dream off - a clear message to the Bernie Ecclestones and Adam Parrs of this world not only in terms of passion but also in terms of the fact that fans want to see more on-track action not less.
The lights go green and Kovalainen leads the way, followed by teammate Jarno Trulli as day two of the Silverstone weekend gets underway. Teammate Jarno Trulli had virtually no running yesterday. In the morning session Fairuz Fauzy drove his Lotus while in afternoon the Italian's track-time consisted of just 3 laps courtesy of a gearbox problem.
Following several minutes of total inactivity, Trulli is back out, giving the huge crowd something to actually look at. Soon, Kovalainen, Glock and di Grassi join the Italian.
Trulli crosses the line at 1:38.026 as Glock slows down completely as he exits Club, much to the German's obvious frustration. The team reveals that it is a throttle issue.
Trulli improves with a 37.000 as Kovalainen goes second and di Grassi third (39.396). Kovalainen subsequently raises the benchmark with a 35.730.
A 34.692 sees Alguersuari go quickest as Button heads down the pitlane. The Englishman, even on his out-lap, is struggling, running wide at Abbey going into Farm Curve. Teammate Hamilton is also on track, the Englishman running wide at Copse.
Barrichello goes quickest with a 34.193 but is soon leapfrogged by Hamilton, Petrov and then Button (32.854).
In this opening phase of the session, the majority of drivers are looking at race pace for Sunday, nonetheless, the order on the timesheets is constantly changing. It is in the final phase of the session that drivers will focus on this afternoon's qualifying set-up.
Barrichello goes quickest with a 31.835, ahead of Kubica, Petrov, Hulkenberg and Hamilton.
Schumacher goes second (32.146) but is instantly demoted by Kubica who crosses the timing beam at 32.064. Next time around the Pole posts 31.818 to go quickest.
Sutil does very well to keep it all together at Copse as his car runs wide, the German having just moved up to fourth with a 31.994.
At half-time all but Massa, Vettel, Glock and Alonso have posted times, but all but the Virgin driver are on track. Indeed, on his first flying lap Alonso goes quickest with a 31.580, ahead of Kubica, Barrichello, Rosberg and Sutil.
Still no sign of the option (soft) tyre, all laps thus far have been completed on the prime (hard).
Watched by fellow Spaniard Marc Gene, Alonso consolidates his top spot with a 31.351. Next time around the Ferrari driver posts 31.243.
On his first flying lap Vettel goes fifteenth while teammate Webber goes twenty-first. Next time around they improve to twelfth and nineteenth and then fourth and seventeenth. The Australian clearly concentrating on his race set-up.
As Alonso raises the benchmark with a 31.101, Vettel improves to second with a 31.425. Massa posts 31.623 to go third.
With twenty minutes remaining, it's: Alonso, Vettel, Massa, Kubica, Barrichello, Hulkenberg, Rosberg, Sutil, Petrov and Schumacher. Hamilton is eleventh and Button thirteenth while Webber is still nineteenth.
Vettel goes quickest with a 30.958 suggesting that we will probably see a time in the 1:29s once they switch to option tyres in final phase of the session.
Having set a personal best in S1 and gone quickest of all in S2, Vettel dives into the pits.
With ten minutes remaining, only Yamamoto is on track as the rest of the drivers prepare for their qualifying set-up runs.
One by one the driver pour on to the track, except for Sutil and Trulli who both have problems, the German gearbox and the Italian - guess what? - hydraulics.
Hamilton goes fourth (31.549) having posted personal bests in all three sectors. However, he's demoted when Webber goes second with a 31.098 to make it a Red Bull 1-2.
A 31.559 sees de la Rosa go sixth, however, nobody is posting any purples in the various sectors. At which point, naturally, Vettel goes quickest in the first sector, before it all goes wrong with his nose dropping to the track going into Stowe. It's not a suspension failure, it looks as though one of the bumps somehow dislodged the nose.
Anyway, the session ends with Vettel quickest, ahead of Webber, Alonso, Massa, Rosberg, Kubica, Hamilton, Schumacher, de la Rosa and Barrichello.
Petrov is eleventh, ahead of Button, Hulkenberg, Kobayashi, Sutil, Buemi, Alguersuari, Liuzzi, Kovalainen, di Grassi, Trulli, Chandhok, Glock and Yamamoto.