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The AT&T
Williams F1 team would see Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado finish in
third and fourteenth in the opening Friday practice session for the 2011
British Grand Prix. Showers had continued to fall after the first free
practice with there being further rain in the lead-up to the second Friday
session. With the start of the session there was not a rush of drivers
coming out. First out after a few minutes would be the Virgin of Glock. As
his car went around large plumes of spray were coming off his car as the
rain continued to fall. As Glock went around the circuit the rain continued
to fall and at the end of the lap he would not surprisingly pit. Alguersuari would come out with his car looking quite a
handful, even running on the full wet weather tyre.
The second Torro Rosso of Buemi would also take to the track. Alguersuari
would start a timed lap while Buemi would pit. He would also pit without
setting a time, leaving the track empty. There was large areas of standing
water around the track. Most of the drivers were out of their cars waiting
to see how the conditions would go, leaving lots of fans looking at nothing
on the track. With his car repaired Kobayashi would come out to no doubt
check the repairs. Even on a slow lap Kobayashi would have moment on one of
the puddles. Kobayashi would pit as the reports had only light rain now
falling. But just as the rain eased it would start to fall heavily again. With thirty minutes completed the track
remained empty with no times set.
The drivers were just waiting for the conditions to improve. The rain would
again ease with patches of blue sky showing. Alguersuari would come back out
running on the full wet weather tyre. He was joined by Sutil as in the
Williams pit Rubens was now getting ready. Buemi was now out on the track
with forty minutes remaining in the session. Perez was next out joined by
Kobayashi. Alguersuari would set a 2m:04.096 as Rosberg left the pits. A
2m:05.096 from Sutil while Buemi would go fastest with a 2m:02.354.
Alguersuari would improve with a 2m:01.984 as we had the first of the Williams cars come
out, that of Pastor Maldonado.
Sutil would set a 2m:00.384to be fastest with Perez in fourth. But Buemi
would also find time setting a 1m:58.323. Schumacher was next out as
Alguersuari set a 1m:57.384 to again be fastest. Rosberg was in sixth,
2m:03.754, and would have a big moment as his car aquaplaned under braking.
Rosberg would run wide but was able to return to the track. Perez had pitted
as Alguersuari set a 1m:55.583. Buemi was second from Sutil, Rosberg,
Kobayashi, Perez, and Pastor. Pastor's time was a 2m:09.616. We now had both
Lotus cars out on the track joined by Rubens.
With thirty minutes remaining D'Ambrosio would come out. A 1m:55.399 from
Alguersuari to remain fastest. Schumacher was now fifth, 1m:56.820, and
Pastor sixth, 1m:57.856. The times continued to improve as Rubens complained
of a lot of rear locking. Schumacher would set a 1m:55.397 to be fastest but
Alguersuari would go ahead with a 1m:54.274. Rubens was in eighth,
1m:59.630, one place behind Rosberg. Buemi would move up to
second with a time of 1m:54.678. Team-mate Alguersuari would set a 1m:54.274
as he returned to his pit. Pastor was on a better lap moving up to third
with a 1m:55.155. Buemi was now fastest with a 1m:54.101 while Schumacher
would pit. Rubens was up to sixth, 1m:56.074. But with just under twenty
three minutes remaining we had yet to see the likes of Red Bull, McLaren,
Renault, or Ferrari.
Sutil was now fastest with a 1m:53.676 with Buemi second. We now had both
Renault cars come out joined by Webber. Buemi would now be fastest with a
1m:53.619. Pastor had pitted while we now had Alonso out on the track.
Rubens would move up to fourth, 1m:54.561, while we would see Webber on the
intermediate tyres. Buemi would pit as Petrov set a 1m:57.159 to be ninth.
Team-mate Heidfeld would take this spot with a 1m:56.848.
Schumacher would come back out as Rubens pitted. Rubens and Pastor were now
fifth and sixth. Webber would move straight up to fourth with a 1m:54.340,
as Di Resta came out followed by Sutil. Perez was back out and now eighth,
1m:55.230, while Webber went fastest with a 1m:53.537. Alguersuari was back
out followed shortly after by Vettel. Massa was also out on the track with
fifteen minutes remaining.
Schumacher would go fastest with lap of 1m:53.024. Button would be the first
of the McLaren's to come out leaving just Hamilton and Liuzzi the only cars
not to come out. Rubens and Pastor were still in their pits and now sixth
and seventh. Webber would go fastest in sector one and two. He would finish
the lap with a 1m:52.587 as Schumacher pitted. Alonso was now sixth,
1m:54.274, while Di Resta moved into ninth, 1m:55.215.
Rubens and Pastor were now in seventh and eighth. Alonso was on a quick lap
and would finish with a 1m:52.869 to be second. Webber had pitted while
team-mate Vettel would move into seventh, 1m:54.545. With nine minutes
remaining Webber was fastest from Alonso, Schumacher, Buemi, Sutil,
Alguersuari, Vettel, Rubens, Massa, and Pastor in tenth.
Button would pit without setting a time as Rubens came back out onto the
track. Hamilton would begin a timed lap running on the intermediates. Massa
was on a quick lap moving up to fourth, 1m:53.593. Hamilton would run wide
at Maggots taking to the tarmac run-off area. Vettel would pit ending his
session. Pastor had also come back out with five minutes remaining. Hamilton
was only in eleventh with a time of 1m:54.713. Pastor had now dropped to
thirteenth while we again had Button out on the track. Button would go
fastest in sector one as Kovalainen moved up to seventh, 1m:53.997, seeing Rubens drop to
eighth, 1m:54.254. Schumacher would go fastest with a 1m:52.325. Pastor
would pit again as we had Rosberg on a quick lap. He would set a 1m:50.744
to go fastest as the session came to an end, 1m:50.744. Hamilton would move
up to second, 1m:51.438, but was passed by Kobayashi with a time of
1m:51.395.
On his last lap Massa would go fastest with a 1m:49.967, from Rosberg,
Kobayashi, Hamilton, Button, Sutil, Di Resta, Rubens, Perez, and Buemi in
tenth. Pastor had dropped down to be twentieth with the rush of times been
set at the close of the session. The times from this session did not have
much meaning given the conditions and the limited amount of running that
drivers had during the session, Vettel had only completed four laps. All of
the top ten times were set on the intermediate tyre. But for the teams it
would put a lot of pressure on them come Saturday to sort out their setups for qualifying,
especially if the conditions are dry. Rubens and Pastor would only complete
thirteen and eight laps respectively during the session. Not what the team
would want given the parts that they wanted to test. |
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