An action packed Friday free practice was evident again at Silverstone. The session started quite dull, with only a few cars on track, evaluating the track and setups as usual. Vettel reported that there was nice grip on the track and in his car, furthermore, if we have rain this weekend, we could see Vettel in and around the points with his superior driving in the rain which we have seen over the last year. Additionally, with David Coulthard announcing his retirement yesterday, we are sure that Vettel will want to be in the hot-spot for that drive.

Free practice one really heated up after one hour, with all installation laps done, and setups evaluated, we seen the top three teams send their drivers out. With Hamilton, Kovalainen, Massa and Hamilton all doing sub 1.19’s, we can see that these guys are on the pace benefiting from the Silverstone test last week.

 If that wasn’t enough to hot up free practice, Fernando Alonso’s engine got even hotter and down into Stowe it look like he had an engine failure or problem. The team are yet to confirm. This is becoming frequent this year inside Renault which could be of major concern to Flavio. Shortly after Massa has an incident in the same corner where it looked like he also had a mechanical failure, but he smashed into the tire barrier destroying his car, while he had the fastest time of the session. It looked like the whole right side of his Chassis and rear suspension was completely ripped of the car on impact. Felipe Massa, the current championship leader, will be removed from the Ferrari Christmas list after this accident. However, if the rain comes as planned, setups will have to change and therefore he may not be at a massive disadvantage in tomorrow’s session.

The session was then red flagged for over 20 minutes while the track was cleared, and they put down some cement. Robert Kubica reported over the team radio that it would be best not to go out, as this would destroy tires and help the other teams by clearing it up. He also said that it wouldn’t be good for the car, as the car could also end up the tire barrier.

Fisichella was the first guy to go and evaluate the new cement that was put down at the Stowe corner, where he quickly took an inside line to avoid all the newly laid cement. Many others did follow, probably to just take a look at the cement, it would never effect anything in the setup, only some things with the tires on contact with the cement, which teams can analyse on the telemetry systems they use on the pit wall.

Lewis Hamilton took a risky line with only 9 minutes of the session to go, and he drove straight into the newly laid cement and Massa lead the session with a 1.19.575, followed by Kovalainen who was just 1 hundredth slower with a 1.19.587. Full times to follow.

Thomas Hancock