After a rain affected first Friday practice session for the 2013 British GP the Williams F1 team would see their drivers Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas finish in 3rd and 6th. The session was not of any great benefit to the team with large amounts of standing water on the track.
British GP Friday 1st
Practice
The 2013 British
Grand Prix would see the Williams F1 team celebrating their 600th Grand Prix
but proceedings would get off to a damp start with the opening Friday
practice run under wet conditions. The Williams team had brought various new
parts for the weekend but the wet weather may hinder their use. Pirelli had
brought a prototype hard tyre to test but given the wet track they may not
get much use. The other tyres brought for the weekend were the medium and hard compounds. The
ninety minutes session would commence with Valtteri Bottas taking to the
track first for Williams. Team-mate Pastor Maldonado would also take to the
track along with Gutierrez for Sauber. After a single installation lap both
Williams drivers would pit.
Hulkenberg and Rosberg were next out followed by more drivers. Alonso and
Hamilton would come out with everyone on wet tyres. There were just a
handful of drivers yet to come out with Vettel and Massa taking to the
track. With fifteen minutes of the session completed Raikkonen and the two
Torro Rosso's had yet to leave the pits. The rain continued to fall with the track now empty with
standing water present. Both Williams drivers were out of their cars with
the team not looking at running again soon. An hour remaining and still no
activity indicating that anyone was going to head back out. With fifty
minutes remaining we would have Ricci9ardo take to the track for his
installation lap. He would pit as Vergne also came out for
his first lap also pitting after just the single lap. Vergne would comment
of the standing water on the track.
Gutierrez was next out but he would come straight back in after checking the
track conditions. He would come back out after a practice start at the end
of the pit lane. He would again pit and was pushed back into the garage with
thirty minutes remaining. Vettel would be next out but he also would return
to his pit with Vettel stating that the standing water was bad on the
straights. Ricciardo would also come back out with eighteen minutes
remaining but the conditions remained the same. Ricciardo would complete a
timed lap setting a 2m:00.029 after what was a difficult lap. He would
continue setting a 1m:57.992 with just twelve minutes remaining. Bianchi was
next out as Ricciardo continued. We now also had Hulkenberg and Rosberg take
to the track joined by Chilton. Pastor and Alonso also came out joined by
several other drivers including Valtteri, Vettel, Massa, Hamilton, Pic, and
Van der Gar.
Several drivers were taking the opportunity to run through the pit lane as
Bianchi set a 2m:10.529. With the standing water the drivers were very
careful applying acceleration. A 2m:01.682 from Pastor and a 2m:04.646 from
Valtteri to be sixth. Pastor was in third. Hamilton would go to the top of
the times with a 1m:55.458 to be 2.5 seconds ahead of Ricciardo. Pic would
spin at the final turn taking off his front wing against the barrier. A
1m:57.292 from Hulkenberg to be second with a 1m:59.480 from Pastor to be
fifth. A 2m:00.313 from Valtteri to be seventh. Both Pastor and Valtteri
would have moments out on the track running off the track while Hulkenberg
would also run wide at Copse. A 1m:57.401 from Valtteri to be third which
would become fifth. Ricciardo would go fastest with a 1m:54.249 with Pastor
now seventh. Pastor would move up to third with a 1m:55.354.
The session would come to an end with eleven drivers having set times.
Pastor was third and Valtteri in sixth. The session may not prove to be of
an benefit for the Williams team especially if the rest of the weekend
proves to be dry. With the end of the session it was still raining with the
forecasts seeing the second Friday session again wet. Valtteri would
complete a practice pit stop when he came in.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m54.249s 10
2. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m55.033s 7
3. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m55.354s 7
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m55.458s 5
5. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m55.825s 9
6. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m56.361s 7
7. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m57.891s 4
8. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m58.859s 6
9. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m59.719s 7
10. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m59.876s 8
11. Felipe Massa Ferrari 2m06.534s 6
12. Nico Rosberg Mercedes no time 3
13. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes no time 4
14. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault no time 1
15. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes no time 1
16. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes no time 4
17. Fernando Alonso Ferrari no time 4
18. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault no time 1
19. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes no time 1
20. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault no time 3
21. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault no time 4
22. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault no time 0
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