Welcome back to Silverstone for the second free practice session ahead of the British Grand Prix. Vettel topped the timesheets in first practice by over 0.3 seconds from Hamilton, with Kubica third in the Renault. However, those time are pretty much irrelevant as so many teams were focusing on the reliability of new updates rather than out-and-out pace. |
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The new section of track offered plenty of action this morning, with a big bump before Abbey catching a lot of drivers out. Abbey is a brillinat corner now, with drivers not quite able to take it flat and plenty of potential for mistakes. |
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The track was also very dusty this morning and that meant quite a few drivers were running wide and making mistakes. But we can expect fewer errors as the weekend progresses and the drivers get to grips with the circuit. |
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The grandstands are filling out for another session under the sun, it really is very hot out there. |
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The green light is on but we're still waiting for the first car to leave the garages. |
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Christian Horner is surveying the back of Webber's Red Bull as the team get ready to fire up the engine. |
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Di Grassi, Glock, Yamamoto, Petrov, Vettel and Webber are the first drivers out on track. |
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Virgin says: "Quite a few set-up changes over lunch. Camber, ride height etc. We were going to wait but as no else is going, off we go, both cars." |
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Di Grassi sets the first flying lap with a 1:40.542 and he is beaten almost immediately by Glock with a 1:39.164. |
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Fabio says: "Hi guys, still no word on Senna I presume?" No, nothing yet. HRT promised a press release in the morning but we haven't had anything through yet. As soon as we find out we will let you know. |
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Rajkumar Maheshwari asks: "Is it true or a rumor that Renault is considering replacing Vitaly Petrov? If true who will be possible team partner of Robert Kubica?" That's still very much a rumour. He doesn't have a contract for next year and the speculation was started by rumours that Renault might be about to land a sponsorship deal with Mastercard. If that happened, then they might want two big names and could probably afford that. Petrov is currently a pay driver. |
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Hamilton sets the fifth fastest time. Barrichello is currently fastest with a 1:33.927. |
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Button clocks the fastest time but he is still a second off the pace of Vettel this morning. |
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Alonso is the first driver to dip into the 1:32s in this session. Ferrari is hoping to improve on its FP1 times and should be challenging for the top six positions this weekend. |
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Alonso and Massa are split by just 0.098 seconds at the moment. Alonso is fastest with a 1:32.870. |
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Antreas Kotsonias: "Hi guys,what do you think about Schumacher decision to write off 2010 and focus in 2011? Do you think is the right choice?" I think its realistic. He is 97 points off Hamilton in the standings and the car is a long way from challenging for wins at the moment. By making the announcement he is also saying that he is committed to Mercedes and won't retire at the end of this year (as some commentators had predicted). |
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Webber sets the fastest time of the weekend with a 1:32.118. |
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Liuzzi just lost the rear end of his Force India through the high-speed Abbey corner. Impressively he managed to hold the slide but his tyres will be absolutely ruined. Remember, this is the first time he has been out on the track because di Resta was out in the morning session. |
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Vettel spins off exiting Stowe. He was on a very fast lap and the rear of the car just stepped out on him, possibly because of a gust of wind. The car isn't damaged but the tyres will be in a pretty bad state after that. |
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Vettel returns to the pits complaining of vibrations from his flat-spotted tyres. |
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Renault are keen to get on with its programme: "So it's run two for Robert and Vitaly. Again, we are maximising the running time for this session here at Silverstone." |
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Schumacher makes another mistake at Village and was just told by his team not to use the brakes and the accelerator too much at the same time because it could cut out the engine. |
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Dhruv Shah asks: "Lotus had mentioned they are bringing upgrades including lighter parts that would help them adjust their ballast more successfully. Was wondering how much time will such a fundamental change help them gain. Also, why does it take more than half the season to bring lighter parts onto the car?" It should help them a fair bit but I'm not sure we will see them catching up with the established teams. But these things take time to develop because, in many cases, the lighter you make something the weaker it becomes. You have to remember that the Lotus was put together in lightning quick time over the winter and is very much a work in progress. |
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At the moment Webber is considerably faster than any other driver. He is 0.563 up on Vettel and 0.865 up on Rosberg. |
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Daniel says: "Hi Team. Per your comment of Schumacher making a mistake, if his team warned of using the brake and accelerator simultaneously, it was not a mistake at all: I couldn't explain the physics myself, but the technique Schuey is using, can generate extra ground force underneath the car. It's a fine balance, and I would think he is working with the new car to perfect it. Schmacher made this technique famous in his first outing with Jordan at this very circuit. If you read his test report, he took that car faster than any previous driver. They found his cornering speed astonishing (relative to other drivers).. because he was using this technique. This is all the hallmarks of trademark Schumacher: I don't think he is past it at all. He's just getting started again..." |
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Thanks Daniel. Nevertheless, he still made a mistake in Village corner - he ran quite wide. When the driver hits the brake and the accelerator hard together the engine cuts out as a safety mechanism. It's there so that if the throttle jams open the engine will be cut when the driver stands on the brake. But you're right Schumacher always has blended the throttle with the brake, as most drivers do. |
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Webber is back out on track, Alonso has now clocked a time 0.473 off the Red Bull driver's best. |
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Luis Sola: "Do you guys think McLaren , having all the new bits they announced on board , are not showing their true speed yet?" Yep, absolutely. But that's not to say the Red Bull won't be faster in qualifying tomorrow. Expect a faster time from McLaren either at the end of this session on soft tyres or tomorrow in final practice. |
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Mitul asks: "I saw a video about blown diffuser and I understand that the exhaust gas is blown in to the diffuser of the car rather than just releasing it in the air. As blown diffuser create extra downforce, do blown diffusers affect the straight line speed of the car (Does it decrease it)?" If it does it's marginal. The gas has to be released somewhere and in the past it went over the rear wing which creates even more drag. |
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Vettel gets within 0.066 of Webber on that last lap. |
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Hamilton is currently out on track but is someway off the pace on a heavier fuel load. Rosberg sets the third fastest time, 0.209 off Webber. |
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35 minutes remain in this session and Webber heads out on a soft tyre run. |
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Webber sets a new fastest time with a 1:31.234 on soft tyres. Vettel is also out on softs and goes flat through Abbey with the car scraping along the floor. |
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Vettel sets a time 0.9 seconds off Webber on his first soft tyre lap but is about to start another. |
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Karun Chandhok is out on track on soft tyres and was hitting the rev limiter in 7th gear at the end of the Wellington straight. |
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Hamilton runs wide through Becketts on a set of soft tyres, that won't do anything for his lap time. |
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Ferrari has sent their two drivers out on soft tyres and Alonso clocks the third fastest time with a 1:31.949. |
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Massa also makes a mess of his tyres after spinning at Village corner. He lost the rear end on entry, like a lot of drivers have today, and the car swung round on him. |
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Alonso goes second fastest with a 1:31.626 and is going even faster on his next lap. |
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Schumacher makes another mistake heading into Brooklands and understeers wide. No harm done to the car. |
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Trulli has only completed three laps in this session, not sure what the problem is there. Fauzy struggled with the same car this morning. The whole rear of the car has been taken apart, with the gearbox off and the seat coming out now too. |
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We're still waiting on a fast lap from McLaren, nothing yet, and both cars are currently in the pits. |
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Alonso catches an impressive slide coming out of Copse at very high speed. |
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The track has gone a bit quiet with just seven cars out on track. |
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Some team-mate comparisons: |
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Hamilton makes another mistake in Maggots - the car snapped away from him on the first lap of a 10 lap run on soft tyres. Not good. |
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Button is also out on soft tyres but is some way off the pace. McLaren must still be running a heavy fuel load... |
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Webber's car is being worked on furiously by the Red Bull mechanics, he appears to have a slight problem. |
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Massa flings his Ferrari through Copse but drops two gears and gets understeer. That car is clearly running heavy on fuel. |
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Another mistake for Hamilton coming out of Maggots and into Becketts. It could be the wind over there that is causing him problems. |
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Speed trap times: |
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Kovalainen's car has stopped down at Stowe. No smoke from the rear of the car, so if I had to guess I would say hydraulics. |
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All the cars bar Webber - who is still in his garage, Hamilton - who has gone back to the pits with after his mistakes at Maggots, and Trulli - who has been in the pits all session, are out on track. |
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Kovalainen says it was a loss of power steering that forced him to park the car. |
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As the chequered flag come out none of the drivers are on a fast enough lap to challenge Webber's best time. |
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So Webber tops the timesheets with a 1:31.234 at the end of Friday's running. McLaren didn't show up today, but that could be down to the team completing tests on its new blown diffuser and not a true refelction of the car's pace. |
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There was plenty of action in both of today's sessions with mistakes being made by a number of the big names. That bodes well for an interesting race but it's also true that they may just have been trying to find the limit around this new and revised circuit. |
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Thank you for joining us and make sure you check back for Saturday's practice and qualifying sessions. |