05/10/2013
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's sole free practice session the air temperature is 22 degrees C, while the track temperature is 35 degrees. Once again it is bright and sunny.
Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in both of yesterday's sessions, and the pace of his teammate, Nico Hulkenberg, not to mention the gap to the opposition, suggests that Mercedes could give Red Bull a real run for its money this weekend.
Not wanting to show any bias, with four races in the next five weeks we really need to see somebody - anybody - take the fight to Sebastian Vettel, if only to give fans in Europe to get out of their beds... total sympathy to our friends in Australia and New Zealand and over there on the west coast of the USA.
Behind the Red Bulls and Mercedes, we had the Ferraris and Lotus', Kimi Raikkonen showing no ill effects following his crash in FP1.
Jenson Button is looking fairly strong in the McLaren, while the Force India duo were covered by just 0.001s.
Behind them it was pretty symmetrical, the Saubers, heading the Tor Rossos, Williams, Caterhams and Marussias.
Tyre options this weekend are medium (prime) and supersoft (option), while, unlike 2012, this year there are two DRS zones. The detection point of the first is 70m after Turn 2, with activation 360m after Turn 2. The second detection point is 60m before Turn 16 with activation 95m after Turn 18.
We witnessed a time difference of about a second between the two compounds on Friday, though we would expect this to come down a bit today.
A number of teams are, most likely Mercedes and Lotus, are probably going to fine tune their cars in order to maximise performance in qualifying, but this will surely compromise them tomorrow.
The lights go green and Chilton is first out, followed by Bianchi, Grosjean, Ricciardo, Vergne, Maldonado, Gutierrez and Raikkonen.
While the threat of a tropical storm now appears to have receded, it is thought temperatures will be significantly cooler tomorrow which will cause further problems.
Within the first five minutes all but the Force Indias have been out, the Silverstone outfit locked in battle with McLaren for fifth in the championship.
Pic posts the first time of the day, the Frenchman crossing the line at 1:43.170. Elsewhere, Hamilton complains of a vibration through the brake pedal when he hits the brakes.
As Van der Garde posts 42.732, teammate Pic improves to 42.730. The Force India duo head down the pitlane.
No sooner has di Resta gone third (50.478), than teammate Sutil posts 42.240 to take the top spot. However, Webber is starting his first flying lap of the session, the first of the big guns to do so. As one might expect he is quickest in all three sectors, easily leapfrogging Sutil with a 39.330.
A big, big sideways slide for Bianchi at T9.
Raikkonen, on his first flying lap, goes second (40.272), ahead of Sutil, Ricciardo, Vergne and di Resta. However, moments later Vettel bangs in a 39.588 and Grosjean 39.797.
Webber raises the bar with a 39.234. Elsewhere, the Mercedes crew is working on Hamilton's car, the problem related to that brake pedal vibration, whilst, in the adjoining garage, Rosberg sits and waits.
Vettel is told he can improve in S2. The German subsequently goes quickest in said sector and the other two - crossing the line at 39.014.
As Grosjean goes third (39.584), Rosberg leaves his garage, followed, shortly after, by teammate Hamilton.
After twenty-five minutes, all but the Ferraris, Mercedes and McLarens have posted times. However, that will soon change as all but Massa are on track.
Rosberg, having lost time behind Hamilton, who is on an out-lap, backs off and abandons his lap when the Englishman fails to allow him past. The German goes seventeenth (50.929).
No sooner has Rosberg improves to fourth (40.025) than Hamilton goes (39.644) quicker and then Alonso, the Spaniard going third with a 39.303.
Button goes ninth and Perez eleventh, the Mexican the source of much media speculation at present and in need of a good result.
With Massa and Bianchi still to post times, Rosberg appears to be holding up Hamilton.
With 28:00 on the clock, all the running thus far has been on the prime (medium) rubber.
Massa goes seventeenth with a 40.656.
Mechanics work on the rear of Raikkonen's car whilst in the Toro Rosso garage Vergne is having his rear suspension adjusted.
At 25:14, Grosjean is first to switch to the option rubber. Meanwhile, Webber takes the top spot with a 39.001 - the Australian, let's not forget, due to forfeit ten grid places after his Alonsocabs naughtiness in Singapore.
Rosberg leapfrogs Hamilton to go fourth, only for the Englishman to improve to third. The Mercedes duo having their own private little battle.
Webber posts 38.946, consolidating his top spot, having gone quickest in S1 and S3.
On his first lap on the softer rubber, Grosjean fails to improve, whilst Hamilton, having gone quickest in S2, goes quickest overall, breaking the timing beam with a 38.860.
As the camera picks up Vettel running wide in T13, kicking up a great cloud of dust, Massa is still down in fifteenth.
It's revealed that the timing screen info was wrong, Grosjean was not on the option rubber. The Frenchman remains sixth and his teammate eighth.
With just under 15 minutes remaining, Ricciardo and Hulkenberg are the only drivers on track. They are joined by Webber, the first driver to make the switch to softer rubber.
Unsurprisingly, the Australian is quickest in S1, his progress watched by the other twenty drivers who are not on track. He is quickest again in S2, finally crossing the line at 38.132, an improvement of around 0.8s.
Massa and Bianchi leave the pits - on options - followed by Vettel, Alonso and Chilton.
After a ‘slow lap', Webber goes quickest in S1, as teammate Vettel begins his flying lap.
Losing time in S2, Webber can only manage 38.018, whilst Vettel is marginally off the pace in S1. That said, he goes quickest in S2 - an important sector - crossing the line at 37.881 to go quickest.
Alonso goes third (38.486) and Massa fourth (38.616), as Raikkonen goes fifth, the Finn clearly struggling for grip.
With 4:35 on the clock all 22 drivers are on track.
Maldonado improves to eighth (39.196), while Rosberg posts 38.318 to go third, albeit almost half-a-second off Vettel's pace.
Grosjean has a hairy moment at T14 as Hamilton, stuck in traffic, backs off. The Frenchman improves to fifth (38.701) nonetheless.
A 38.332 sees Hamilton go fourth, just 0.14 slower than his teammate, but, more importantly, 0.451s off Vettel's best.
The order is pretty much as we saw yesterday, Red Bull and Mercedes ahead of Ferrari and Lotus. The big improvement, certainly in this session, is Sauber, which has leapfrogged McLaren.
Hamilton complains that he is not being kept informed about traffic, advising that Raikkonen nearly ran into the back of him.
The session ends with Vettel quickest, ahead of Webber, Rosberg, Hamilton, Alonso, Grosjean, Massa, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg and Button.
Gutierrez is eleventh, ahead of Maldonado, Sutil, Perez, Ricciardo, di Resta, Vergne, Bottas, Pic, Van der Garde, Bianchi and Chilton.
Check out our Saturday gallery, here.