Romain Grosjean tops very wet first practice for the British Grand Prix

Romain Grosjean was quickest as heavy rain hit the opening practice session for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone

Conditions were wet from the outset, and steadily worsened. That meant that the 1m56.552s lap that Lotus driver Grosjean produced after 37 minutes proved to be the fastest anyone could manage all morning. Demonstrating how tricky the track was, Grosjean took to the grass at Becketts just after setting his benchmark time.

Daniel Ricciardo was among the initial pacesetters and remained second for Toro Rosso, 0.275 seconds behind Grosjean.

Lewis Hamilton led the home contingent for McLaren in third, followed by Sergio Perez's Sauber, Felipe Massa's Ferrari, and Red Bull driver Mark Webber, who also took several turns on top early on.

Although Kamui Kobayashi was only seventh in the times, he was among the most spectacular to watch on the wet track, managing to keep his Sauber on the road most of the time despite some slides. Team-mate Perez was one of several to have a harmless spin - although his incident could have collected Grosjean.

Marussia's Timo Glock and HRT test driver Dani Clos also looped their cars, but despite the conditions, everyone managed to avoid the barriers.

Unusually for a wet session, the majority of the field came out for some concerted running. Only the Force Indias and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso decided against flying laps.


Pos Driver                Team                    Time               Laps
 1. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault           1m56.552s            13
 2. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m56.827s +  0.275   10
 3. Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes        1m57.174s +  0.622    6
 4. Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari          1m57.664s +  1.112   11
 5. Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 1m58.119s +  1.567    7
 6. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        1m58.463s +  1.911    7
 7. Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari          1m58.483s +  1.931   19
 8. Michael Schumacher    Mercedes                1m58.493s +  1.941   10
 9. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1m58.942s +  2.390    8
10. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m59.076s +  2.524   12
11. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        1m59.414s +  2.862   11
12. Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault        1m59.614s +  3.062    9
13. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault        1m59.733s +  3.181    7
14. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault        1m59.787s +  3.235   10
15. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault        2m00.125s +  3.573    5
16. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault           2m00.253s +  3.701    6
17. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        2m01.834s +  5.282    6
18. Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth       2m01.835s +  5.283    6
19. Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth            2m04.341s +  7.789    9
20. Dani Clos             HRT-Cosworth            2m05.022s +  8.470   11
21. Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth       2m11.760s +  15.208   6
22. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                                       4
23. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes                          3
24. Jules Bianchi         Force India-Mercedes                          1

All Timing Unofficial