Vettel fastest at new Silverstone

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Sebastian Vettel headed the times at the end of the first practice session on the revised Silverstone circuit.

The Red Bull driver also signalled he had more time in hand, setting the fastest middle sector on his final lap.

Lewis Hamilton was second fastest ahead of Robert Kubica.

Hamilton was one of several drivers to have problems on the new sections of the track, twitching wide after running over a bump at Abbey. Several other drivers had similar difficulties including Michael Schumacher.

Jenson Button was the first driver to set a lap on the revised circuit, doing a 1’37.994.

Fairuz Fauzy and Paul di Resta appeared for Lotus and Force India for the first practice session of the day. Fauzy’s start to the session was delayed by an engine change and further problems later in the session limited him to 11 laps.

Sakon Yamamoto was slowest as he took over from Bruno Senna at HRT.

Pos.CarDriverCarBest lapGapLaps
15Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’32.28022
22Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’32.6140.33416
311Robert KubicaRenault1’32.7250.44521
46Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’32.7470.44723
514Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’32.9680.68818
64Nico RosbergMercedes1’33.3181.03821
710Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth1’33.3771.09719
81Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’33.5191.23920
93Michael SchumacherMercedes1’33.9551.67518
109Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’34.0161.73617
1116Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’34.1321.85221
1212Vitaly PetrovRenault1’34.3652.08522
138Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’34.4902.21020
1415Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’34.5802.30022
1523Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’34.7102.43016
1622Pedro de la RosaSauber-Ferrari1’34.9012.62117
177Felipe MassaFerrari1’35.0372.75721
1817Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’35.3183.03827
1919Heikki KovalainenLotus-Cosworth1’36.7474.46716
2024Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’37.3305.05011
2125Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth1’37.5185.23815
2220Karun ChandhokHRT-Cosworth1’38.7356.45521
2318Fairuz FauzyLotus-Cosworth1’39.5107.23011
2421Sakon YamamotoHRT-Cosworth1’39.6737.39327

2010 British Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    30 comments on “Vettel fastest at new Silverstone”

    1. Some great camera shots underneath the McLaren, and live telemetry on their site. ‘King of the Media’ award goes to McLaren today :)

      1. http://WWW.MCLAREN.COM/HOME is the shizzle… Love it – live revs, gear changes, and team radio transcripts…

        HAM:”that was fun!”
        HAM:”the track is quite slippery out there. a big bump in turn 11.”

    2. Wow. Some interesting times here. First of all, only four drivers were within a second of the leader. As far as I can recall, that’s the first time that has happened this season. It’s usually closer to eight drivers.

      Secondly, Ferrari thirteenth and seventeenth? It makes me wonder just how genuine their Valencia pace was. They had been expecting to race with Hamilton both before and after the now-infamous pit stop, but this is something else entirely. With Silverstone being one of the fastest circuits on the calendar, it doesn’t bode well for Spa and Italy. Ironically, Ferrari have somehow managed to take everything good about last year’s car and make is less-than-ideal whilst taking everything mediocre about the F60 and making it better.

      1. Guilherme Teixeira
        9th July 2010, 12:17

        With Silverstone being one of the fastest circuits on the calendar, it doesn’t bode well for Spa and Italy.

        Quite the opposite. Silverstone is fast for its quick corners which require a lot of downforce, whereas Spa and Monza are fast tracks for its long straights (low downforce). Just remember how bad Force India did at Silverstone last year and then how good they did at Spa and Monza.

        Anyway, it’s Friday, and it’s not the first time they finish FP1 on doggish positions this year.

      2. Ferrari were testing different configs. Failing to make a good time during P1 does not necessarily mean its all bad for ferrari.

        Here is the official tweet from ferrari on P1 “The whole session was dedicated to the comparison of different configurations and new components”

      3. I wouldn’t jump to conclusions that easily, especially after P1.

        According to Ferrari’s official website they were trying different settings on the new rear and front wings.

        P2 will give us a much more reliable indication on how fast their really are IMHO.

        1. *they and not their.

          1. The BBC said they were running high fuel too. I don’t expect Ferrari to set the world alight here but it’s not that dire just yet

      4. We do know Ferrari tend to do higher fuel runs on Fridays, wouldn’t read too much into this. An their Turkey pace was abysmal so I suspect this was a track that was never going tos uit their basic aerodynamics, whereas Valenica was right up their street.

        Remember they were challenging for victory in Cananda, without their upgrade, so it’s clear their Valenica pace at least was real.

    3. P1 is never a good indication, but sometimes it’s not far wrong. The RB6 should and will fly around here, and Seb seems to click with this track. Can’t decide whether to read much into Fezza’s (Ferrari, not Fauzy’s) pace – they don’t usually come to the fore till P2 or 3. Pleasantly surprised at Kubica’s position…again, hard to read too much into it, but on the surface it’s possible Renault have updated their car enough to be competitive at high downforce circuits. Should be another cracker!

    4. mike bradshaw
      9th July 2010, 11:57

      for god sake! Still think hamilton can win.

    5. Mclaren are still in the testing and adjusting mode with their “new car” … Let’s see what Practice 2 and 3 bring us … Show must go on! Go Great Britain

    6. well yamamoto was really quick

      1. Wondering if he gets a top drive after this gem of a practice session.

        1. To paraphrase the great Murray Walker, “undoubtedly the best Formula One driver that Grand Prix racing has ever produced”…

    7. Wasn’t the new Silverstone supposed to be faster than the original one?

      Drivers must be better than 1:29.662 in order to have a better average speed than last year’s. But times are only in 1:32s, I hope they get quicker over the weekend. But still 3 seconds is a stiff ask.

      1. It’s only a Friday and a new track so grip is stilll coming to them. They’re learning the track so they probably won’t be pushing especially hard for a little while yet, maybe fp3 and then we will see low fuel runs too in the better track conditions.

      2. I make it that they should be lapping at around 1m32secs to equal last years speed.

        1. In fact scrap that I make it 1m32.6s to beat. Which they have already done.

      3. If the pole lap for this year’s race is below 1:31.263 then it will be a faster average speed than Vettel’s pole time last year. Does anyone know what the average drop in time from 1st practice to qualifying has been this year?

        1. depends a lot on the track

          anyway, webbers already beaten that. it was clear before practice that the new layout was faster than the old one anyway…

    8. Did anyone use the driver tracker on the bbc website???

      1. On the BBC live page it is stated it will only be available during the race.

    9. What happened to Massa?

      1. He didn’t try the F-duct at any point I don’t think. Apart from that it was high fuel from Ferrari and them trying to work out how effective their parts are. Massa also made a mistake on his first run and had to cut it short.

    10. Ferrari looked way off the pace and entirely confused about what upgrades they should be using for this race. I was hoping Fernando could take the fight to the McLarens and Red Bulls this weekend, but I honestly do not see Ferrari doing any better than Renault and Mercedes this weekend.

      I think its a Lewis vs Seb fight for the win, with Webber just behind the two.

    11. This session was really about testing different options, with only RedBull, Hamilton and Kubica pushing a bit for times at the end of the session.

      Ferrari compared different components with fuel in the car, McLaren mostly did comparisons and endurance tests on the new parts, Mercedes tested the heat shielding they installed etc. Maybe Mercedes and McLaren will go for times in the afternoon, i expect Ferrari to do that only tomorrow morning.

    12. It will be between Red Bull & Mclaren this weekend but really surprise to see the Ferrari’s at the back may be they are heavy.

      Expect Force India to have a double points finish this weekend as this circuit should suit them.

    13. Why is it so quiet here today? Where’s everybody?

      1. Some if not all have gone to Silverstone to watch the race & many things that Practice have nothing to do in a race weekend.

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