Grosjean leads Silverstone practice

Renault F1 protege Grosjean lapped in 1:27.411s, over two-tenths clear of Mike Conway's Trident Racing machine. Grosjean's team-mate Luca Filippi was third fastest, the Italian on a high after his recent podium at Magny-Cours following a difficult start to the season.

Both Conway and Filippi had big moments during the session, which was held in sunny but windy conditions. Conway was forced into a long grassy moment after losing control at Becketts, but he bounced across the grass without doing any harm to his car.

Filippi spun at the high-speed at Stowe corner, a feat repeated shortly after by fellow frontrunner Bruno Senna (iSport). Both got briefly airborne as they rattled over the kerbs, but both returned to earth safely.

Series leader Giorgio Pantano was fourth fastest for Racing Engineering, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, who stalled his DAMS car at the end of the pitlane at the conclusion of the session after a disastrous practice start.

Andi Zuber, a winner last year here with iSport, was sixth quickest for Piquet Sports. Super Nova duo Andy Soucek and Alvaro Parente were next up, ahead of Lucas di Grassi (Campos) and iSport partners Senna and Karun Chandhok. The latter had a big grassy moment exiting Luffield, that he did well to catch.

Other expected frontrunners well down included Pastor Maldonado, who was only 15th for Piquet Sports. Returning from injury with Durango, Davide Valsecchi was 24th fastest.

Pos Driver               bTeam                  Time         Gap
 1. Romain Grosjean       ART                   1:27.411
 2. Mike Conway           Trident               1:27.699  +0.288
 3. Luca Filippi          ART                   1:27.741  +0.330
 4. Giorgio Pantano       Racing Engineering    1:27.746  +0.335
 5. Kamui Kobayashi       DAMS                  1:27.791  +0.380
 6. Andi Zuber            Piquet Sports         1:28.062  +0.651
 7. Andy Soucek           Super Nova            1:28.076  +0.665
 8. Alvaro Parente        Super Nova            1:28.119  +0.708
 9. Lucas di Grassi       Campos                1:28.128  +0.717
10. Bruno Senna           iSport                1:28.296  +0.885
11. Karun Chandhok        iSport                1:28.403  +0.992
12. Sebastien Buemi       Arden                 1:28.468  +1.057
13. Adrian Valles         BCN                   1:28.477  +1.066
14. Vitaly Petrov         Campos                1:28.627  +1.216
15. Pastor Maldonado      Piquet Sports         1:28.809  +1.398
16. Jerome d'Ambrosio     DAMS                  1:28.967  +1.556
17. Javier Villa          Racing Engineering    1:28.978  +1.567
18. Marko Asmer           FMS                   1:29.109  +1.698
19. Roldan Rodriguez      FMS                   1:29.209  +1.798
20. Alberto Valerio       Durango               1:29.466  +2.055
21. Diego Nunes           DPR                   1:29.721  +2.310
22. Yelmer Buurman        Arden                 1:29.876  +2.465
23. Ho-Pin Tung           Trident               1:30.044  +2.633
24. Davide Valsecchi      Durango               1:30.460  +3.049
25. Michael Herck         DPR                   1:30.509  +3.098
26. Carlos Iaconelli      BCN                   1:31.349  +3.938