Hakkinen looking forward to qualifying

Aside from coping with the changing conditions Hakkinen said he feared someone would get killed after teammate David Coulthard's McLaren stalled on the fastest part of the circuit.

Coulthard's car cruised to a halt on the 200mph Hanger Straight as his engine cut out with hydraulic problems. Marshalls were forced to take to the track after the rescue Land Rover sent to clear the McLaren became bogged down in the mud and had to be towed clear.

'I am not sure what happened to DC, but as I went past I thought that was a very dangerous place and that there could be a fatality here,' said Hakkinen.

Coulthard shared his team-mate concerns.

'I was worried myself when the car cut out because it is a fast part of the circuit there,' he agreed.

'I tried to drive it to a safe place but it didn't make it.'

Hakkinen added that he was worried about driver safety if the poor conditions continued however.

'There are places where the water drains away and places where it stays. It was the fact that it is not consistent that makes it extremely dangerous for the drivers,' he said.

However, Hakkinen was not totally displeased with his day's work.

'The rain certainly made things troublesome but we did a quite a bit of running today and its clear the weather is going to play an important role this weekend, he said.

'The car feels good and I am looking forward to qualifying.'

The double world champion is regarded as one of the fastest drivers around Silverstone but has never won in Britain, despite dominantly leading the race every year for the past three seasons.

His engine failed a handful of laps from home in 1997, a safety car interlude allowed Michael Schumacher to close a 40s gap and snatch victory in 1998 and last year his car famously shed a wheel after its first pit stop.