Felipe Massa set the fastest time of another wet practice session at Silverstone ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix.
Heavy rain fell just moments before the pit lane opened meaning the track, which had been drying over the lunch break, was wetter than the morning session.
In race conditions the circuit would have likely been red flagged and therefore it was no surprise when only four drivers left the comfort and safety of the pit garages.
For over 30 minutes nobody was on the track, leaving the thousands of fans in the grandstands rather underwhelmed.
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Formula 1: Mark Webber Fastest in First Practice at Silverstone
Formula 1: British Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: British Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
But with the risk of going out in the wet weighed against the limited supply of wet tyres, it simply wasn’t worth the teams sending a car out into the unkown.
It was only in the final 20 minutes that the championship leaders hit the track and in the final five minutes there was a battle for the top spot. ESPN F1
That left the Ferrari driver 0.8s clear of Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg, but was some 3.4s slower than Mark Webber’s benchmark in the slightly better morning conditions.
Kamui Kobayashi was third quickest and, true to form, put on a stirring show as he wrestled the Sauber over the puddles, not in the least inhibited by his heavy morning crash that had given his mechanics a major repair job to do between sessions.
McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button only ventured out near the end of the session but took advantage of the improving conditions to post the fourth and fifth best times.
Force India team-mates Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta were next up, with Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Sergio Perez (Sauber) and Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) completing the top 10. ITV
Such was the flurry of late times as track conditions improved that one-time pacesetter Michael Schumacher for Mercedes found his 1m 52.325s good enough only for 12th by the time the flag fell less than 10 minutes after he set it.
Heikki Kovalainen was 13th for Team Lotus with 1m 52.578s ahead of Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who like Schumacher had been the fastest for a while with 1m 52.587s, and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso on 1m 52.869s.
Nick Heidfeld was 16th in the second Renault on 1m 54.023s, ahead of Jaime Alguersuari, who deserved some accolade for being the first to venture out. The Spaniard spun his Toro Rosso at Club very early on when there was standing water all round the track, then much later set the pace for a while. His eventual 1m 54.274s left him 17th ahead of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel on 1m 54.545s, Jerome D’Ambrosio on 1m 54.714s for Virgin, Williams’ Pastor Maldonado on 1m 55.155s and Jarno Trulli who shared the same time as the Venezuelan for Lotus. Timo Glock was 22nd for Virgin on 1m 55.549s, ahead of the HRTs of rookie Daniel Ricciardo and Tonio Liuzzi on 1m 55.828s and 1m 56.037s respectively. Formula 1
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