The British Grand Prix weekend got off to a fine start at a bright and breezy Silverstone, and any rain that did fall was insufficient to affect the first practice session this morning.
What did have an effect was the demise of Fernando Alonso’s Renault, the car slowing to a halt and leaving a trail of oil on the circuit that appeared to catch Felipe Massa unawares. Brazilian was a helpless passenger as his Ferrari lost grip and raced backwards into a tyre barrier. The damage will give the Ferrari boys something to do, but the driver walked away unscathed.
And unbeaten as it happened, for Felipe had already set a time – 1:19.575 – that would not be eclipsed when the track was opened again with fifteen minutes left.
Nearest challenger was Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren’s Finn on fine form this morning and ending the session just one hundredth slower than Massa, and a similar fraction ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton, while Kimi Raikkonen was content not to try for a significant time in the final minutes and wound up fourth.
These four were the only runners to break the 1;20 barrier, and it was left to Robert Kubica to lead the rest, the BMW some half a second off the Ferrari and little ahead of Alonso who had shown enough pace in the early part of the session to convince that Renault are in the ball-park here. Indeed, the presence of Nelson Piquet in eighth place on the time sheet confirms the promise held by the blue and yellow machines this weekend.
Between the two Renaults came Sebastien Vettel. The German rising star again showing his class in the STR, while the final top ten places went to David Coulthard, the Scot on his last appearance in a home Grand Prix, and Nico Rosberg in the Williams.
A number of drivers were on decent laps when the Renault, and then the Ferrari, brought out the flags, among them Mark Webber – who sits just outside the top ten – and Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW, while at the back the Force India duo – complete with new shark-fin rear bodywork – again did battle with F1’s under- achievers, Honda. Notably, the Honda pair did not bother to run after the red flags, and amassed only 11 laps between them less than most drivers clocked up on their own. We can only hope they have something in hand for later on.
Written: Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:48:06
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