Formula 1 British Grand Prix 2015 - FP1 and FP2

FP1

Nico Rosberg recovered from an earlier hydraulics issue to beat Lewis Hamilton to top spot in FP1 for the 2015 British Grand Prix, setting a time of 1m34.274s, beating Hamilton by just 0.070s. It was an eventful session for the Mercedes duo, as Hamilton spun his W06 early on, before topping the times for the majority of the session. However, the real news was the pace of the two STR10's of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, Verstappen 3rd and Sainz 5th, split only bt the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, the STR boy's setting their best times in the final hour of the session. Raikkonen lost time on his second set of tyres thanks to an MGU-H issue. Sebastian Vettel had a quiet session and was 6th in his Ferrari, followed by the two Red Bull RB10's of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat, which were both outclassed by the junior Toro Rosso team, and were over a second and a half slower than Rosberg's best lap time, as the struggles for the team and Renault continued. Nico Hulkenburg, driving with the new B-spec Force India for the first time, was in 9th place,followed by the Williams of Felipe Massa, the team again doing their usual trick of failing to show their hand in the early sessions.

Outside of the top ten was the Sauber of Felipe Nasr, the other Force India VJM08 of Sergio Perez and the other Williams FW37 of Susie Wolff, who had a much more successful FP1 session at Silverstone than the one she had last year, when an oil leak caused her FW36 to grind to a halt. She was 13th fastest this morning and set a best lap time of 1m37.242s, 2.968s slower than the best time of Nico Rosberg and putting 19 laps on the board. Behind her was another Brit, in the form of Jolyon Palmer, making his British Grand Prix FP1 debut behind the wheel of the Lotus E23 hybrid, completing a good 26 laps around the circuit. He was followed by the other Sauber of Raffaele Marciello, doing another FP1 session for the team, then regular Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado.

McLaren had a difficult session, with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button completing only 22 laps between them in the upgraded MP4-30,Button losing time thanks to a leak, whilst Alonso was trialling an experimental suspension configuration for the car, which then had to be changed back once the team got their required data. The MP4-30's were only quicker than the two Manor Marussia MR03B's, the team with another sponsor on the car, with Flex-Box joining them and sporting very eye pleasing blue sidepods on the car's. The MR03B's have recieved their first upgrades since the car was used in the 2014 season, with new bodywork and engine covers. Will Stevens, racing for the first time at Silverstone in Formula 1 was 19th, with Roberto Merhi 20th, nearly two seconds slower than his team-mate.

FP2

After pipping team-mate Lewis Hamilton to P1 in Free Practice 1 this morning, Nico Rosberg took control in Free Practice 2 for the British Grand Prix, hooking up a good lap on the medium compound tyres of a 1m34.155s, to go 0.466s faster than Hamilton, who was behind the two Ferrari's of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. Raikkonen pipped Vettel to P2 by just 0.02s, and both Ferrari driver's and Rosberg looked much more comfortable than Hamilton, who reported that "the car is all over the place" over the radio. Things clearly not good for the world champion, who has now said he will have to dig deep over the remainder of the weekend. After winning in Austria, topping day two of the test in Austria and topping FP1 at Silverstone, Rosberg looks very comfortable and happy with life right now in his W06 Hybrid.

There was a brief red flag early on in the session, as the Romain Grosjean beached his Lotus at Luffield, fortunatley though he was able to rejoin the session later on. Red Bull had a good FP2, Daniil Kvyat going an impressive P2 on the hard compound tyres early in the session, and holding onto P4 on the medium compund tyres before Raikkonen put in his quick lap for P2. Behind the Red Bull's was Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso having another good practice session. He was followed by Nico Hulkenburg in the B-spec Force India, who continues to get more out of the package than team-mate Sergio Perez. Behind Hulkenburg, Carlos Sainz and Felipe Massa rounded out the top ten. Pastor Maldonado slotted his Lotus into 11th, the other Williams of Valtteri Bottas was 12th.

Sergio Perez so far has failed to get the most out of the B-spec Force India, and ended up 13th fastest in FP2. Behind him was Romain Grosjean, obviously hampered by his earlier trip into the gravel at Luffied. McLaren had another bad session, Fernando Alonso was only 15th, and Jenson Button only 17th, split by the Sauber of Felipe Nasr in 16th. With Marcus Ericsson 18th, it looked like it would be another tough race for the Swiss team, who's last points finish came with Nasr's 9th place finish in Monaco, the team dropping off the pace since they took P5 and P8 in the opening race of the year in Melbourne. Will Stevens again beat his team-mate Roberto Merhi at Manor Marussia, although the gap between them was smaller, it was still over a second and a half, Stevens best lap a 1m38.279s, Merhi a 1m39.878s.

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