British GP, Free Practice 1: Vettel precedes Hamilton

Best time for Sebastian Vettel in the first free practice session on Friday of the British Grand Prix. At Silverstone the Red Bull driver preceded Lewis Hamilton (McLaren). The session saw the drivers discover the new changes to the track and progressively refine the setups.

Third time for Robert Kubica (Renault), ahead of Mark Webber (Red Bull), Adrian Sutil (Force India) and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP).

Ferrari back with Fernando Alonso 12th and Felipe Massa 17th.

Several riders encountered difficulties with a bump at the new right-hander at Abbey, and the slippery surface at Village.

Michael Schumacher was the first to spin, losing the rear of his Mercedes. The German made the same mistake two laps later. Hamilton ran wide and off the track at the same point, as did Felipe Massa, Nico Hulkenberg, Adrian Sutil and Fairuz Fauzy.

The bump at Abbey caused even more problems, with many drivers forced to make corrections and downshifts to keep the car on the entry line.

Hamilton, Schumacher, Paul di Resta, Timo Glock and Karun Chandhok were among the drivers most in difficulty in that stretch. Hamilton found himself ahead of Vettel's time several times but several errors in the new section ruined his laps.

Fauzy ended his tests early due to an engine problem in his Lotus. Glock also missed the final 30 minutes due to a fuel pressure problem, while Lucas di Grassi completed just 10 laps.

Sakon Yamamoto, on track with HRT in place of Bruno Senna, finished with the 24th and final time.

Free Practice Results 1 English GP

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:32.280 22 2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.614 + 0.334 16 3. Kubica Renault 1:32.725 + 0.445 21 4. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:32.747 + 0.467 23 5. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:32.968 + 0.688 18 6. Rosberg Mercedes 1:33.318 + 1.038 21 7. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:33.377 + 1.097 19 8. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.519 + 1.239 20 9. Schumacher Mercedes 1:33.955 + 1.675 18 10. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:34.016 + 1.736 17 11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:34.132 + 1.852 21 12. Petrov Renault 1:34.365 + 2.085 22 13. Alonso Ferrari 1:34.490 .2.210 + 20 14 1. di Resta Force India-Mercedes 34.580:2.300 + 22 15 1. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 34.710:2.430 + 16 16 1. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 34.901:2.621 + 17 17 1. Massa Ferrari 35.037:2.757 + 21 18 1. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 35.318:3.038 + 27 19 1. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 36.747:4.467 + 16 20 1. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 37.330:5.050 + 11 21 1. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 37.518:5.238 15 + 22 1 38.735. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 6.455:21 + 23 1 39.510. Fauzy Lotus-Cosworth 7.230:11 + 24 1 39.673. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 7.393:27 + XNUMX XNUMX