Webber heads damp Friday practice in Britain

Kobayashi parks his broken Sauber

Mark Webber led the first practice session of the British Grand Prix weekend, as rain disrupted proceedings.

The session was initially damp, then rain fell within the hour, ensuring times would not go near those set last year.

Michael Schumacher suffered several off-track moments, but still led the session several times across the 90 minutes. Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso traded fastest laps, until the session was yellow flagged for Kamui Kobayashi’s crash.

The Sauber driver lost control at the exit of Club, spun and slammed into the barriers opposite the pits, almost rolling his car in the process.

Once the yellow flags were cleared with less than 10 minutes to go, the times fell, and Webber posted a 1:46.603 to go fastest. Schumacher stayed 2nd, while Rubens Barrichello was 3rd for Williams. Sergio Perez managed 4th place.

Sebastian Vettel had a troubled session, as his Red Bull was seen pouring smoke when in the pits. He was relegated to 13th place, not going out in the fastest part of the session.

Daniel Ricciardo’s debut drive for HRT went without incident, the Australian finishing last, 9 tenths off Jerome D’Ambrosio, and 1.2 seconds away from his teammate.

Times from FP1:

 1.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1:46.603            19
 2.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1:47.263  + 0.660   20
 3.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1:47.347  + 0.744   23
 4.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1:47.422  + 0.819   22
 5.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1:47.562  + 0.959   13
 6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1:47.758  + 1.155   23
 7.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1:48.161  + 1.558   16
 8.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1:48.549  + 1.946   21
 9.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1:48.598  + 1.995   19
10.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:48.678  + 2.075   22
11.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1:48.730  + 2.127   18
12.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:48.778  + 2.175   18
13.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1:48.794  + 2.191   21
14.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth      1:48.809  + 2.206   17
15.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:48.841  + 2.238   23
16.  Nick Heidfeld         Renault                1:48.941  + 2.338   20
17.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault                1:49.603  + 3.000   15
18.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1:50.133  + 3.530   17
19.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault          1:50.222  + 3.619   14
20.  Karun Chandhok        Lotus-Renault          1:51.119  + 4.516   17
21.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth        1:52.470  + 5.867   17
22.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth           1:53.143  + 6.540   20
23.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth        1:53.469  + 6.866   26
24.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth           1:54.334  + 7.731   24