GP Great Britain – Free Practice 1: Webber far ahead

The first driver to take to the track is Daniel Ricciardo in the modest HRT, to familiarize himself with his new car which will be his for almost all the remaining Grand Prix of the season, followed by his teammate for installation laps.

Jérôme d’Ambrosio is the first driver to set a time after fifteen minutes of testing at 2’03’001 on a track that is gradually drying after the passage of the cars. Nico Rosberg follows and improves his time by 10 seconds, while Rubens Barrichello also sets a time.

Fernando Alonso makes a small mistake on the second straight, causing him to spin, while Sebastien Buemi makes an error in the gravel before heading to the pits.

It is ultimately Jenson Button who is the fastest at the end of the first 30 minutes of free practice, but as the track gradually dries, the times continue to improve more and more. Sebastian Vettel manages to bring his RB7 to first place by setting an excellent second sector to go under the 1’49 mark.

Michael Schumacher then joins him by setting the fastest time half a second quicker than his compatriot, while Nico Rosberg, in the second Mercedes, takes the temporary 3rd place. Lewis Hamilton then goes out on medium tires, which are Pirelli’s test tires for the weekend, in very precarious conditions to test the activation of the DRS on the new rear wing of the McLaren. The British driver performs only a few laps in a balancing act before returning to the pits.

After a few minutes, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber respectively set the first and second fastest times as the rain begins to fall, preventing the drivers from improving their times. Fifteen minutes from the end, Kamui Kobayashi makes a mistake by going over a curb at full throttle, which destabilizes his car, sending it into the wall, narrowly avoiding a rollover.

While the third sector is still under a yellow flag, Sebastian Vettel improves in the first two sectors but doesn’t complete the effort, having to slow down in the last one. However, it’s his teammate who improves first with a time of 1’47’553, more than half a second faster than Fernando Alonso’s previous best. The Australian repeats the effort, lowering his best time by another seven-tenths, while Nico Rosberg attacks aggressively but loses time in the second sector, preventing him from aiming for the top spot. However, his teammate steals second place as the times tumble in the final moments, with Rubens Barrichello and Sergio Perez clocking the 3rd and 4th best times.

Results of Free Practice 1 – 2011 British Grand Prix: