Great Britain – Free Practice 2: Hamilton still in the rain

After a rainy first free practice session, Free Practice 2 opens under conditions that do not encourage showing off one’s hairdo at the Silverstone circuit. Thus, after the bikini trend in Valencia, the fashion is unsurprisingly towards raincoats and umbrellas at the English circuit, where temperatures—on the track and in the air—do not exceed 17°C at the start of the session. Vitaly Petrov’s race engineer informs the Russian that the weather conditions are expected to deteriorate at the beginning of the session.

Under these conditions, the drivers remain in their garages, with Lewis Hamilton seizing the opportunity to add a star to his helmet, as a sign of support for Maria de Villota, victim of a terrible crash during straight-line testing with Marussia.

We have to wait for Timo Glock, recovered after his recent gastric troubles, for the unusual abbey-like silence that reigns over the English countryside to be broken. The German is joined on the track by Kimi Räikkönen, Bruno Senna, and Fernando Alonso. While the Spaniard prefers to return to the pits, the Marussia driver sets the first reference time of the day on rain tires with a 2:11.964. Bruno Senna improves the time to 2:10.215, but the Brazilian chooses to return to the pits after a slight slip of his FW34 at the start of the next lap.

A few minutes later, the Silverstone circuit regains its tranquility. On the Sky Sports broadcast, Paul di Resta suggests that driving under these conditions is not only superfluous given the need to preserve wet track tires for the rest of the weekend, but it would also be risky since the cars are not designed to run in these conditions. Moreover, the circuit organizers are faced with an absurd situation, as the rain has turned the spectator parking areas into a real mud bath.

On the McLaren side, Paddy Lowe took advantage of the lunch break to reassure Lewis Hamilton’s fans and explain the reasons for the attention given to the British driver’s engine at the end of Free Practice 1. After Lewis Hamilton’s collision in Valencia, the team from Woking wanted to ensure that the 2008 world champion’s engine, new in Valencia, hadn’t been damaged and could still be used in race conditions at another Grand Prix this season.

As Meteo France announces that the rain should stop after mid-session, no driver ventures onto the track. Kamui Kobayashi is the first to leave his garage, to the cheers of the crowd, but only after nearly half an hour of inactivity. The Japanese driver, naturally on blue-sided wet tires, is followed by the Marussia drivers who have major upgrades on the MR01 at Silverstone.

Regarding the tires, Pirelli had planned to seize the opportunity of these free practice sessions to allow the teams to discover a new hard tire planned for 2013: due to weather conditions, it will be postponed.

From his first lap, Kamui Kobayashi sets the fastest time with 2:04.198, proving that the conditions are better than at the start of the session. Fernando Alonso is also the first to put on the Intermediate tires with green sidewalls: the Spaniard likely wants to preserve his wet tires for the rest of the weekend where the forecasts are no more optimistic than today.

And meanwhile, the pit lane comes alive… An incident? No, it’s simply Lewis Hamilton’s umbrella taking off just like the Saubers on track, which are the first to go under the two-minute mark. Kobayashi, with a time of 1:58.894, leads Sergio Pérez at 1:59.089, while Fernando Alonso returns to the pits without setting a timed lap.

But even if the track conditions are more manageable, they remain treacherous. Bruno Senna harshly crashes his Williams into the wall after the FW34 slipped away when he placed his left front wheel on the Chapel corner curb. The Brazilian emerges unscathed from the wreckage of the Williams while the race direction raises the red flag. At the start of the last half-hour of practice, the Sauber drivers are ahead of Felipe Massa, Nico Hülkenberg, Sebastian Vettel, Bruno Senna, Heikki Kovalainen, Vitaly Petrov, and Timo Glock.

At the green flag, Kamui Kobayashi is once again the first driver to hit the track, on wet tires. Vergne, Ricciardo, and Alonso follow on intermediate tires. But the wet tires seem to be the most suitable given the conditions, with the Japanese driver improving his own best time to 1:57.613. Fernando Alonso crosses the timing line for the first time but is over 5 seconds behind Kobayashi, while Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, by climbing to the front, confirm the advantage of the wet tires. However, they don’t prevent Lewis Hamilton from having a nice slide under braking, something the spectators must have appreciated.

The Englishman, however, quickly moves to the top of the timesheet with a lap in 1:56.345. Nico Rosberg threatens the best time of the McLaren driver but in vain. The rain returns to the Silverstone circuit, catching the drivers by surprise as they make several off-track excursions without consequence, particularly for Sergio Pérez who spins around. Fernando Alonso also gets caught out at the exit of Stowe and hits the wall sideways. The Spaniard leaves his wing behind and returns to the pits.

Under the checkered flag, Lewis Hamilton, on wet tires, logically retains his best time and is ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and Michael Schumacher. In tenth, Fernando Alonso holds the best time on Intermediate tires, while Romain Grosjean, Daniel Ricciardo, Mark Webber, and Pedro de la Rosa have not counted a single timed lap.

Result of the Free Practice 2 of the British Grand Prix 2012: