Mark Webber sets pace in first Free Practice session of the Silverstone Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
Red Bull driver Mark Webber has set the pace in the first free practice session of the Silverstone Grand Prix of the 2011 Formula 1 season.
The Aussie posted a fastest time of 1 minute and 46.603 seconds in the wet session.
Although rain did not interfere in the session but the track was completely wet after some heavy showers before the session for which the drivers used intermediate tyres in the session. All the drivers mostly drove carefully in the opening few laps as they
were waiting for the track to get dry.
Webber took advantage of the dry track in the latter part of the session and posted a fastest time just moments before the chequered flag. Webber’s teammate Sebastian Vettel went off track on the wet track in the opening part of the session and remained
in the pits afterwards, although no damage was reported. The German was down in 13th place.
Second on the times chart was Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher who also posted his fastest time in the final moments of the session. Schumacher did 20 laps in total the fastest of which yielded 1 minute and 47.263 seconds. Schumi’s teammate Nico Rosberg was
down in 6th place, 1.5 seconds adrift.
Rubens Barrichello of Williams’ finished third while Sauber’s Sergio Perez came fourth. Both of these drivers posted their fastest times in the final stages of the session.
Ferrari’s duo, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, was fifth and seventh on the times chart. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was eighth on the table almost two seconds adrift while his teammate Jenson Button was down in 15th place.
Force India’s test driver Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari completed the top ten.
Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi was the only driver who had a crash in the session when his car kissed the wet grass and ended up in the wall. He came out unharmed but his C30 was damaged heavily. Daniel Ricciardo kicked off his career in the HRT car and ended
last in the session.
The second session will be contested later on Friday and apart from Kobayashi’s Sauber, every other car is good to go.
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