Rosberg on top as Massa crashes in second practice

2013 British Grand Prix second practice

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Nico Rosberg was quickest for Mercedes in a busy second practice session at Silverstone.

The track had mostly dried out following the morning’s rain-hit session but was still damp as drivers headed out at the beginning of the scheduled 90 minutes’ running.

However they found the circuit was almost ready for slick tyres, and quickly returned to the pits for dry-weather rubber.

On an improving track most drivers logged well over 20 laps. But Felipe Massa was a significant exception.

The Ferrari driver lost control of his car at the exit of Stowe on his eight lap. The nose of the F138 was wiped off against the barrier, and although Massa’s car was quickly returned to his team he was unable to take any further part in the session.

Rosberg showed strong pace in the Mercedes but the two Red Bull drivers behind him ran strongly when the drivers completed their race simulation runs later in the session.

Paul di Resta an was the quickest home driver ahead of fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton. Behind them were the two Toro Rossos. Fernando Alonso could only manage tenth behind Adrian Sutil and Romain Grosjean.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
19Nico RosbergMercedes1’32.24833
22Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’32.5470.29926
31Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’32.6800.43231
414Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’32.8320.58434
510Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’32.9110.66328
619Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’33.1710.92334
718Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari1’33.2901.04238
815Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’33.3131.06534
98Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’33.3221.07438
103Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’33.4941.24632
115Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’33.7401.49229
1211Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’33.8961.64836
137Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1’34.1201.87230
146Sergio PerezMcLaren-Mercedes1’34.1301.88229
1512Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’34.9982.75032
1617Valtteri BottasWilliams-Renault1’35.0702.82229
1716Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1’35.1272.87935
1822Jules BianchiMarussia-Cosworth1’35.8023.55427
1921Giedo van der GardeCaterham-Renault1’35.9843.73632
2020Charles PicCaterham-Renault1’36.0793.83135
2123Max ChiltonMarussia-Cosworth1’37.3295.08133
224Felipe MassaFerrari1’43.46611.2187

2013 British Grand Prix

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Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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49 comments on “Rosberg on top as Massa crashes in second practice”

  1. I wish Massa would have announced his retirement instead of Webber.

    1. It’s amazing how often Massa still looks like a rookie. Only 11 years in the sport!

    2. +1

      His seat is being wasted and Ferrari are losing valuable points almost every race.

      1. They could have had Vettel, but Alonso vetoed that.

        I remember last year Alonso coming out to defend Massa by saying he’s “one of the best”. It was laughable and so self-serving. The implication for Alonso was if Massa is “one of the best” then Alonso must be one of the greatest of all time to so comprehensively beat him.

        Massa should retire not just for his sake but the safety of other drivers out there.

    3. I fail to see why. Webber has been beaten by his team mate in the last 5 years as crushingly as has Massa – however, Ferrari does run a 1st/2nd driver policy, which RedBull does not, so Webber’s performance is relatively worse.
      Their career is not that dissimilar – both have won some races and nearly achieved a championship, but lost in the last race of the season. But, Massa has won more races and scored more poles. Ah, and Massa actually beat a decent team mate in the past (Raikkonen), which is more than one can say about Webber. And when it comes to shunts, both of them have had their fair share of it.

      1. back then when Schumacher was advisor and focus heavily on Massa on car development huh?? (schumacher admitted that in an interview. Just search ” Michael Schumacher 2008 interview on youtube)

        Those days are long gone. Only works with a teammate like Kimi that rather skip testing slot as much as he can and reduce the no. of times he had to visit the factory.

        Alonso is born leader, unlike the nonchalant Finn.

      2. Well said antifia, I agree. I also agree that Ferrari could be scoring more points…

      3. Ryan (@ryanisjones)
        28th June 2013, 18:00

        RedBull don’t run a 1st/2nd driver policy?

        Come on. There is no way you believe this. Since their crash, their cars have never looked equally matched. This means either RedBull have progressively developed the whole car around Vettel’s talents (no1), or Vettel has developed at a phenomenal rate (not no1) – I think it’s a bit of both. I say this as I refuse to believe they would compromise Webber’s car (though they have tried and succeeded to compromise some of his races) and there is no way Vettel is consistently a second faster than Webber in the same car… Webber is not a bad driver.

        1. You’re contradicting yourself there. A “team developing their car around the talents of one driver” is not the same thing as a team having a “1st/2nd driver policy”.

          Mercedes are developing their car around Hamilton rather than Rosberg. (note their decisions to scrap their old brakes which NR was familiar with in favor of new brakes which Hamilton likes) But that does not mean – yet – that Rosberg is expected to finish behind Hamilton all the time. (Though if they order Nico to stay behind a few more times, that may change)

          If RB had a 1st/2nd driver policy then there is no way Webber would have finished in front of Vettel in Brazil last year.

          1. I get the impression Merc is developing LH’s car around LH, and NR’s around NR. I know LH has been having brake issues, but I don’t know that NR automatically has to lose, or has lost, brakes he likes and has to adapt to brakes LH prefers. Is that the case? I would think that if NR is happy and accustomed to the brakes and the feel that he is used to they wouldn’t force him to change just because LH wants to try different things. NR’s pace would imply he still has brakes he prefers.

          2. @robbie you can´t do that is very expensive

          3. What in gods name are you talking about? Rosberg didn’t change his brakes. Only Hamilton did. Rosberg still has the brakes he prefers.

      4. @antifia If you think Redbull does not run a 1/2 driver policy, you’re kidding yourself

    4. He will not have to do that but Ferrari ;)

  2. Oh Felipe baby. Poor Felipe…

  3. I think Massa’s future with Ferrari is secure. As a crash test driver!

    1. I’ve read reports coming from Brazil that Felipe is planning on changing his name. After much deliberation his new name will be Felipe Crasha.

  4. Red Bull was looking mighty unequaled on the long runs. I Don’t see anyone beating that!

    1. I think Ferrari is the team to beat this weekend. RBR looked good but temperatures weren’t anywhere near to what’s expected on Sunday.

      1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
        28th June 2013, 18:39

        @tmf42 exactly. Sunday’s forecast is much warmer.

      2. Yes @tmf42 you might be right, in fact I hope you are right but in Canada we were faced with the same situation and Red Bull held up just fine in the race.

  5. It just wouldn’t be a proper session without Massa crashing…

  6. Force India and Toro Rosso in the top 8 is definitely a surprise. It will make for an interesting race if they can carry that performance into qualifying. If Alonso does not get a lot closer to the front tomorrow, the battle for the race win will be between Webber and Vettel. Their long runs looked strong, and I think on race pace they are at least half a second faster than Mercedes.

    Mercedes therefore did not look as bad as they did in Spain, but based on their long runs I think a podium is going to be difficult, especially with the tyre-kind Force Indias so close on pure pace, as well as the usual suspects of Alonso and Raikkonen who can never be discounted for the race.

    Massa was disappointing once again. Seriously, what is up with the guy? He’s broken more cars than any of the rookies so far this season. Speaking of rookies, I think Van der Garde has had a good start to the weekend. He has stayed out of trouble, and was sometimes surprisingly close to the front, even P8 early on with the wet running.

  7. How bumpy has Silverstone become? I don’t remember it being that bad in previous years. Felipe Massa made a sad character walking back to the pits – his body language had ‘failure’ written all over it. Shame because I thought he had raised his game.

    1. Yeah, I also noticed it was pretty bumpy down Hangar straight…. it was fantastic! Modern day tracks are all smooth and shiny with no bumps to expect, but it’s actually quite a skill to set the car up correctly on a bumpy track. I think I remember Button commenting on the new Abbey being quite bumpy and how it was quite refreshing because of the challenge… although having said that, a challenge that McLaren’s stiff suspension doesn’t sit with too well!

  8. Hm, will be interesting to see where the Mercedes cars end up if Rosberg (or Hamilton) does make it on the first row

    1. I fear it will be similar to Barcelona and they’ll just drop back the whole race. The tyres were graining quite badly due to the high speed corners it seemed in practice… I’m fearing the worst!

  9. Too early to say who will be fastest in one lap stint but Raikkonen was the only driver who did not use a single set of mediums in FP2. Expecting him to be up there in the top 5 in qualification if its dry and he can get the tire temps up. Anyone with a link to full lap times in fp2 to get a better idea of the long run pace for each driver?

  10. I can’t see the gaps on my mobile version (android dolphin).

    1. Ignore that, fine now.

  11. Picture Perfect P2. Everyone was able to give their cars a long runs and test their cars. As planned, Massa successfully crashed .and Crash Test results were recorded for further improvements to Alonso’s car :)

  12. It’s pathetic! Massa needs to go. I’ve been saying it for years. So has many people.

    It’s so frustrating to have him as a backup to Fernando.

    1. I wanna see Kobayashi have a go in a Ferrari, but chances are they’ll go with Hulkenberg when they finally get some cahoonahs and axe Massa.

  13. Can’t say I get the piling on of Massa. He’s not there to be the team’s rooster, so why pile on the guy for a crash? Yeah he’s crashed other times too. Anybody ever have him pegged as this year’s WDC? How about as Ferrari’s #1? I get that some people think another driver could/would do better at Ferrari to help them with the WCC, but that’s a hard thing to find…a driver who is better and more consistant but not moreso that he’s a threat to the rooster and needs to literally be held back and/or is compliant such that he’s really good but willing to hold himself back.

    I don’t know…maybe it’s time for them to replace FM with somebody, but as I say I don’t quite get the piling on when he crashes in practice.

    1. Even though I made some fun of Massa , I must admit that I always felt that he was a capable driver. Though from the very start of his career he has these incidents of crashes.

      What I felt was that his ability to correct course when things go wrong is very weak. I see that Alonso and Vettel are really good at that. I felt Hamilton was another driver who has a similar weakness slightly but not to the level of Massa. Once Massa is motivated he really does a very good job. The very first instance that is lost he just completely loses it. I can remember how motivated and brilliant he was in latter part of 2008 when he almost won the WDC.

      As far as Ferrari is concerned. It is either him or Nico Hulkenburg in Ferrari next year. Provided Alsonso Okays Nico. For all we know Alonso might prefer Massa to Nico.

      1. Yeah but I do feel for FM when his ‘ability to correct course’ is in an atmosphere of being the clear non-rooster. FA and SV are really good at that, but it helps when you are the clear number 1. That said, I do recognize that FM is at Ferrari with his eyes wide open as to his situation, so when I say I feel for him, I certainly don’t pity him.

    2. It’s his 4th crash in 3 races. 3 of those were his fault. So yeah… But the main issue is he’s not challenging his team mate at all. This is the same guy who put Kimi in his place in 2008.. Hasn’t won a race since and appart from the team orders Germany race he hasn’t looked like winning another race.

      1. Yeah I hear you but it became clear after Germany 2010 that it was not his mandate to challenge his teammate nor to win another race unless FA is out of contention.

      2. The main issue as I see it is that he’s leaving valuable points on the table at each race that he doesn’t finish close to his teammate. He should be helping Ferrari in the Constructors Championship, and he’s not. I can’t understand why they retained him again this year.

  14. Massa never recovered from the crash…in the beginning of the season he appeared in a good shape but he fail to hold on to that momentum and now he looks like Gutierrez in the first few races, always crashing into something

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      28th June 2013, 18:07

      @johnmilk at the beginning on the season I was defending him against those comments saying “he will go bad in a couple of races” and as a prophecy, it has happened… again. If Massa is evey year going into the good-bad-terrible (he must go)-regular-good(Ferrari forgives him for another year) pattern, then it makes me agree that his time in Ferrari should be over.

      1. at the beginning on the season

        good-bad-terrible (he must go)-regular-good(Ferrari forgives him for another year)

        What? Proofread!

  15. Good job felipe. You know massa has reached the pinnacle of a rubbish driver when he cannot even help his team fetch valuable data during fp sessions.

  16. @keithcollantine

    Any place where I could access the lap-charts of FP2 for all drivers? It would be easier to make predictions that way.

      1. @frans

        Thanks I appreciate it!

  17. Massa might want to ask Webber if he could use a co-driver in his Porsche next year.

  18. Wow Force India and Toro Rosso drivers showing up veterans Alonso, Button and Raikkonen again.

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