PRACTICE TWO
Report – Fernando Alonso was third in 1.35.244 while Kimi Raikkonen had to settle for ninth with a 1.36.554. The Spaniard completed 32 laps this afternoon, while the Finn did 29.
Both Ferrari men fitted the Medium tyre, the softer of the two brought to the English track by Pirelli. Fernando immediately seemed comfortable with this compound and made the most of the track rubbering-in more than in the morning.
The Spaniard ended the session doing good times on a long run. Kimi didn’t manage to get the right feel for the car and will have to work on finding the right balance so that he can push to the maximum. Once again Mercedes was fastest, with Lewis Hamilton posting a 1.34.508 ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg. Behind Alonso came the two Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m34.508s 14
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m34.736s +0.228s 35
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m35.244s +0.736s 32
4. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m35.511s +1.003s 11
5. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m35.627s +1.119s 27
6. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m36.016s +1.508s 33
7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.228s +1.720s 34
8. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.299s +1.791s 35
9. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m36.554s +2.046s 29
10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m36.583s +2.075s 26
11. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m36.671s +2.163s 29
12. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m36.778s +2.270s 31
13. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m36.951s +2.443s 35
14. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1m37.064s +2.556s 35
15. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m37.097s +2.589s 33
16. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m37.236s +2.728s 37
17. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m37.449s +2.941s 27
18. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m37.520s +3.012s 25
19. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m38.658s +4.150s 11
20. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m39.068s +4.560s 31
21. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m39.224s +4.716s 28
22. Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m39.762s +5.254s 21
QUOTES
Kimi Raikkonen: “This morning in the first session things went reasonably well. We followed the standard programme, including analysing car behaviour on the Hard tyres and we just had a few problems with traction at some points on the track and a bit of understeer in the high speed corners. In the second session, we made some small changes which did not work and the handling of the car was not the same. Putting a good lap together was really difficult and so we went back to the morning settings, but unfortunately we had the same problems. Now we must find out what happened between the two sessions, even if I think it’s partly down to the track conditions and the gusts of wind, which were very strong today. I’m sure that studying the data will give us the information we need to prepare as well as possible for tomorrow.”
Pat Fry: “At Silverstone, the weather is often unsettled and that can have a strong influence on the outcome of practice and the race. Therefore, it’s vital for the drivers to do a lot of laps to get as confident as possible with the car. Today, despite a strong and inconsistent wind, we were able to work through our programme without encountering any particular problems. On both cars, we tried some new aerodynamic components and various electronic settings, while on the power unit front we continued to acquire data useful for our development programme. At the same time, we went through the usual set-up tests to find the most suitable one for this track, as well as paying attention to tyre behaviour over short and long runs. It wasn’t easy to find the ideal balance as well as managing the degradation and while Fernando managed to complete a long run, with Kimi, we continued working on set-up to try and resolve some problems that cropped up on his car. Now we must find the best compromise to help both drivers to get the right stability for the rest of the weekend, taking into account that the weather is meant to get worse for tomorrow with a chance of rain.”
PRACTICE ONE
Report – A hard to read first free practice session for the British Grand Prix, with track conditions featuring a strong and gusty wind, as well as a red flag about half an hour into the 90 minute session after Massa went off, thankfully without injury. There was also a long yellow flag period when Ericsson parked his car with 30 minutes to go. For Scuderia Ferrari, Fernando Alonso was third quickest in 1.36.263, completing 23 laps, as did Kimi Raikkonen with a best time of 1.36.703.
This morning, the Scuderia Ferrari drivers tested some new components and then carried out the usual set-up work, as well as evaluating the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres.
Fastest overall was Nico Rosberg, the only driver to break the 1m 36 seconds barrier with a 1.35.424. Second was his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton with a 1.36.155. Splitting the two Ferrari men was Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m35.424s 25
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m36.155s +0.731s 22
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m36.263s +0.839s 23
4. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m36.623s +1.199s 21
5. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m36.703s +1.279s 23
6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m36.921s +1.497s 20
7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.963s +1.539s 25
8. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m37.175s +1.751s 29
9. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m37.227s +1.803s 25
10. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m37.231s +1.807s 30
11. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m37.720s +2.296s 22
12. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m37.910s +2.486s 21
13. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.056s +2.632s 18
14. Daniel Juncadella Force India-Mercedes 1m38.083s +2.659s 23
15. Giedo van der Garde Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.328s +2.904s 19
16. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m38.917s +3.493s 12
17. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m39.461s +4.037s 7
18. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m39.814s +4.390s 24
19. Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m40.597s +5.173s 19
20. Robin Frijns Caterham-Renault 1m42.261s +6.837s 11
21. Susie Wolff Williams-Mercedes 1m44.212s +8.788s 4
22. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault no time 2
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN SPACE 