British GP: Daniel Ricciardo leads rain-hit first practice
Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest time in a wet British Grand Prix practice session that looked for a long spell like it might feature no flying laps whatsoever
Teams do not expect the heavy rain that began Friday morning to continue into the weekend, giving even less reason than usual to take to a wet track in practice one.
After initial installation laps, most drivers chose to wait in the pits, leaving the large crowd to entertain themselves before an empty track.
Finally with less than a quarter of an hour left Toro Rosso's Ricciardo became the first man to actually set a lap time, crossing the line in 2m00.029s.
That prompted others to come out, and ultimately 11 drivers completed flying laps through the puddles.
Lewis Hamilton was fastest on a 1m55.033s in his Mercedes going into the final moments, but Ricciardo regained his top spot with a 1m54.249s.
Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Williams driver Pastor Maldonado then slipped into second and third, demoting Hamilton to fourth.
Esteban Gutierrez and Valtteri Bottas completed the top six, despite a late spin for the former.
Kimi Raikkonen was the only driver not to take to the track at all. His Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean, Jenson Button, Mark Webber and Sergio Perez all confined themselves to a single tour then stayed in the pits.
Proving that track conditions definitely were treacherous, Charles Pic crashed his Caterham at Club late on. The Frenchman was unhurt.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m54.249s 10 2. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m55.033s + 0.784s 7 3. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m55.354s + 1.105s 7 4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m55.458s + 1.209s 5 5. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m55.825s + 1.576s 9 6. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m56.361s + 2.112s 7 7. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m57.891s + 3.642s 4 8. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m58.859s + 4.610s 6 9. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m59.719s + 5.470s 7 10. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m59.876s + 5.627s 8 11. Felipe Massa Ferrari 2m06.534s + 12.285 6 12. Nico Rosberg Mercedes no time 3 13. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes no time 4 14. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault no time 1 15. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes no time 1 16. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes no time 4 17. Fernando Alonso Ferrari no time 4 18. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault no time 1 19. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes no time 1 20. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault no time 3 21. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault no time 4 22. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault no time 0
Share Or Save This Story
Hamilton accepts blame for incident with Albon in F1 Brazilian GP
Ferrari drivers called to F1 stewards over Brazilian GP collision
Will Alonso's Indy failure end the age of versatility?
Who could stand-in for Verstappen at Red Bull if he gets an F1 race ban?
Top five Australian F1 drivers ranked: Brabham, Webber, Piastri and more
Why life after racing in F1 has plenty of upsides for Ricciardo
Behind the scenes at Pirelli: The hidden factors that go into developing F1 tyres
Alex Marquez to miss next two MotoGP rounds after Barcelona crash
How Hamilton switched to a "different approach" for F1 Canadian GP
Where you can find the best battles of F1 2026
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments