Red Bull leads practice rounds
Mark Webber leads the practice rounds at Silverton today with the fastest pace. Red Bull will put up a good fight against Ferrari and McLaren.
Webber and fellow Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel are expected to dominate Silverstone, and have been the fastest cars just about every time they are on the track together. Webber timed 1 min 31.234 seconds today and considered the practice “pretty good apart from an electrical problem at the end which was a bit of a shame.”
Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was 0.392 seconds behind Webber, splitting up Vettel from his team mate. Felipe Massa took the fourth spot ahead of Mercedes Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher.
Where was McLaren? Trailing back in eighth and 13th place Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button did seem too upset about their time. Webber believes the McLaren team is disguising their true pace.
“I think some other teams are sandbagging a bit...I think McLaren aren’t showing everything today. I think they’re waiting to unleash the car tomorrow. Definitely expect them to come right back up to us tomorrow.”
McLaren has been evaluating a bunch of new products today they hope will enhance their chances of getting a pole position. Red Bull remains the favourite after today’s practice, and the reality of McLaren’s strategy will just have to wait until Sunday.
McLaren introduced a new front wing and blown diffuser to their developments. Both will increase down-force and in effect cornering speed. The increase in down-force is achieved because the adjustments will direct the exhaust gases around the rear wheels and into the floor of the car.
McLaren’s Jonathen Neale is hopeful the package of upgrades will produce a “reasonable performance step” though he admits it won’t turn the car into a “golden bullet.” McLaren didn’t upgrade like Ferrari and Mercedes did at the last round in Valencia. Their strategy is to develop the cars to perfection for their home race in Britain. It’s been said the blown diffuser takes away half of a second to a lap.
Despite his good time today, Alonso has been unsure about how competitive Ferrari would perform this weekend, especially with McLaren on the track sporting new equipment. Ferrari’s blown diffuser is making its second appearance this weekend. Alonso was happy with the car’s cornering after the practice and remains optimistic:
“It’s best to wait and see where we will be.”
Ferrari has recovered from the disappointment at Valencia, where Alonso finished eighth place. Alonso is worried that Silverstone’s revamped corners are fast and ill suited for the F10, although overall he was positive about the car's performance:
“Along with the engineers, we have spent these few days studying all the characteristics of the new track layout, analysing the available information, including watching the motorcycle races held there a few weeks ago.”
Ferrari also introduced their version of the McLaren-pioneered system that improves straight line speed: the F-duct aerodynamic device. The device increases a cars speed, and Ferrari is running it on both cars. Williams will also bring out a new blown diffuser and Mercedes has refitted their device after it overheated the rear end of the car at Valencia.
In the end everyone is competing to beat Red Bull's time, the company that pioneered the blown rear diffuser.
“At the moment they are favourites for tomorrow,” said Alonso of the Red Bull team, “but on a single lap in final qualifying anything can happen and then we will see what is the position we are and what we need to improve in the next races.”
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