Formula 1 2013 British Grand Prix – Rosberg Wins Scintillating Scrap In Silverstone Sunshine
Practice FP1 was washed out by the weather, and with better weather predicted for the rest of the weekend few teams chose to do much running. Only 11 set times, and others only ran a few installation laps. FP2 saw a drying track and FP3 on Saturday was dry ahead of qualifying. Mercedes topped the timesheets through the practice sessions, though on Friday both drivers felt their cars were very nervous in high-speed corners. They were much more comfortable for Saturday morning though, showing great pace. Red Bull worked quietly through their programme on Friday and Saturday, and then posted just behind the Mercedes duo to underline their pace. Ferraris practice didnt show a great start to the weekend, as Alonso only managed P10 in FP2 and P7 in FP3, not showing the comfortable pace expected. Massa had a reasonable go in the wet, but then dropped the car in FP2 and broke the nose and front suspension. In FP3, he only managed a few laps before Ferrari opted to make an engine change, meaning he got little time on the track. Lotus ran their programme and tested new parts, including what is assumed to be a passive double-DRS system. Their times on Friday were midfield, but they looked more competitive in FP3 with P5 and P8. Force India had a solid Friday, and were fairly strong ahead of qualifying, with both drivers attacking and comfortable with the car, which looked promising. McLaren were frustrated by the bad weather on Friday as they sought to test their new parts ahead of qualifying, but made good running in the afternoon session, though failed to crack the top ten. On Saturday Perez suffered a rear left tyre failure, which temporarily red flagged the session as he limped back into the pits and affected his running. Torro Rosso were very impressive Friday, taking P1 with Ricciardo in the wet and remaining inside the top ten in the dry. On Saturday Ricciardo was still in the top ten with Vergne just outside, and their car looked very handy around Silverstone. Williams opted to run in the rain Friday, posting solid positions of P3 and P6, however they slipped backwards in the dry sessions to the bottom of the midfield. Bottas wasnt able to show the mixed-condition form he showed in Canada, and Williams still have a lot to do as they continued to struggle for outright pace into Saturday morning while they worked on differing programmes. Sauber mixed it with Williams to trade places as they also opted to run in the wet, looking a little more competitive and generally having an uneventful if disappointingly slow practice. Caterham were generally pleased, with Van der Garde happy with his set up and leading the tail end quartet, though Pic slid off and clipped the barriers in FP1, breaking his front wing. Overall though they were generally happy as they mixed it with Marussia. Bianchi raced hard to be just behind the Caterham in the rain, then topped them in the dry afternoon, before both cars were sandwiched by the green cars on Saturday morning. They were happy with the amount of race preparation they completed for the weekend.