United Kingdom – Free Practice 1: Grosjean in the rain

It’s under a typically British sky that this first practice session of the British Grand Prix begins with a wet track. The air is at 16°C and the track is only 17°C; the wind is too weak (1 meter per second) to chase away the clouds gathered above the Silverstone circuit.

Many test drivers will have to face these difficult conditions during this session: Jules Bianchi in place of Nico Hülkenberg at Force India, Valtteri Bottas (whose interview by the editorial team you can find here) in the seat of Bruno Senna’s Williams, and Dani Clos in Narain Karthikeyan’s seat at HRT.

Jean-Eric Vergne is the first to leave the pits, equipped with Rain tires. Sergio Pérez, on the other hand, is the first to set a timed lap. He records a time of 2:11.663, 40 seconds off the best possible times in dry conditions, and immediately returns to the pits. Apart from the Mexican, only the McLarens and the Mercedes have started their timing without finishing their laps.

The weather news is not very reassuring: Heikki Kovalainen is complaining about aquaplaning, and his engineer on the radio tells him that conditions should worsen during the session. However, the teams have many new parts to test today…

We have to wait 15 minutes for a new time to be set, and it’s Kamui Kobayashi, driving a Sauber equipped with a series of airflow sensors, who takes the top spot with a time of 2:04.479. The Japanese driver also explored the Queen’s gardens by going straight through the last chicane, getting thoroughly splashed after driving over a puddle. Two timed laps later, the mark is lowered to 2:02.254 by the Sauber driver.

Sebastian Vettel is the next driver to set a time after 23 minutes of the session, 2:10.702, at the wheel of the Red Bull RB8 adorned with a decoration made up of several thousand photographs sent by fans. Guillaume Rocquelin, his engineer, asks him to clock as many laps as possible but to do so calmly, and to return if the conditions seem bad. At the wheel of the other RB8, Mark Webber goes under 2 minutes with a 1:59.719. But this time doesn’t last long against Daniel Ricciardo’s 1:58.581. The duel between the two Australians continues in the following laps, with the elder setting 1:58.463 before the younger surpasses him with 1:56.827.

Dani Clos is the first to make an impression by spinning around without consequence on his second timed lap. At the same time, Romain Grosjean, on his first flying lap, moves directly into second place with a time of 1:57.058. The Franco-Swiss driver doesn’t hesitate to improve with a 1:56.552, thus surpassing Ricciardo. Grosjean pushes on and rides the curbs despite the rain. An attack that on the next lap leads to a straight-on in the Maggots / Becketts sequence, resulting in a brief excursion into the gravel. Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de La Rosa also perform maneuvers, the Japanese driver at turn 2, narrowly missing Grosjean’s car, and the Spaniard at turn 4, mimicking his teammate from the morning.

Timo Glock is the next to make a mark in turn 5, without any damage. Despite a faster track due to the amount of water cleared by the passing of the cars, the rain intensifies. The camera on Lewis Hamilton’s helmet is the best witness to the poor track conditions. The list of drivers caught out by the rain is growing, with Nico Rosberg, whose braking for the final sequence was done with two wheels on the slippery curbs, forcing him to go straight.

At mid-session, Kamui Kobayashi is the most diligent on track with 14 laps, while Fernando Alonso and the two Force India cars have not set a time. Paul Di Resta and Jules Bianchi could almost make a trip to the Force India factory, located less than a kilometer from the team’s garage, before getting back behind the wheel! Heikki Kovalainen is then the only one on track, driving a significantly revised Caterham, especially at the rear. The Finn is followed on track by Daniel Ricciardo, who has a scare in turn 1 with a rear-end slide. The Australian records a time of 2:03, confirming that the low track activity in the last minutes coupled with the continuous rain on the circuit has degraded track conditions. Jean-Eric Vergne takes his turn and records a time of 2:09.704, more than 13 seconds off Romain Grosjean’s best time. Kamui Kobayashi is the only one to join Vergne, as the conditions become increasingly treacherous. The Japanese driver laps at 2:06.093 and soon finds himself alone on track.

There are 23 minutes left when Romain Grosjean decides to go out to assess the track conditions and comes back in immediately. Five minutes later, Kimi Räikkönen and Kamui Kobayashi do exactly the same. The conditions are not suitable for testing. In fact, Romain Grosjean completes five consecutive installation laps, returning to the pits each time, sometimes only making a brief stop at the Lotus box before heading out again. The director shows us a slow motion of Kamui Kobayashi returning to the pits, as he went on the wrong side of the bollard marking the separation between the track and the pit lane, an incident that will be investigated after the session. Kobayashi is already penalized with a 5-place grid drop following his collision deemed avoidable by the FIA in Valencia with Massa.

A few minutes before the end of the session, a Force India finally drives on the circuit; it’s Paul Di Resta. The Scotsman decides to start his timer, without finishing the lap. Fernando Alonso, still without a time, also goes back on track for yet another installation lap. The native of Oviedo mentions aquaplaning on the radio before returning to the pits for good after completing 4 laps without a time.

Five minutes before the end of his first free practice session, Felipe Massa is the last driver on the track. Behind the scenes, Lewis Hamilton’s mechanics are already dismantling the car to check the engine. The Brazilian returns to the pits, skidding to warm up his tires, and performs a practice start.

The session concludes with the best time for Romain Grosjean. The Franco-Swiss is ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton. The second session starts at 3 p.m., also expected under steady rain…

Result of Free Practice 1 of the 2012 British Grand Prix: