The Friday in F1 British GP was hectic but threw some surprise performances too in tricky conditions and with new tyre construction.
While Red Bull pair lit up on Friday of F1 British GP, it wasn’t plain sailing for either Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. The Dutchman did top both FP1 and FP2, but in the latter he was only 0.022s faster than Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Everybody faced grip issues but it wasn’t clear if it was down to green track or the new Pirelli construction which they have brought in to make the tyres more robust for the F1 cars which are getting faster and faster with every passing grand prix.
Even though Sainz was close on the one lap criteria, the Spaniard is realistic about the race situation where he feels Ferrari is lacking and tyre degradation may not help their case. It was not ideal for Charles Leclerc with no running FP2 due to electrical issue.
The good thing for Ferrari was lack of pace shown by both Aston Martin and Mercedes F1 cars. While the former still made it in the Top 10, the latter were running outside mostly struggling for one lap pace with their car all over the circuit.
Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell felt a bit off, with the Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll feeling goodish but are hopeful to find a bit more. Their loss was a gain for Williams who surprised everyone.
Verstappen: “I think it was quite a good day for us. It was a little slippery in the beginning but that’s due to the high pressures that we are running on the tyres. Of course, that is the same for everyone, but it makes it a bit more difficult in the low speed. I think in general the car has been performing really well so we can be happy with that. The performance has also been strong in both sessions and we could complete our programme. The long runs felt good as well so it’s pretty positive. From our side we want to improve the car ahead of qualifying tomorrow but overall, it’s been a strong day.”
Leclerc: “There was a small problem on the car, but it’s like this. I think the team has identified what went wrong, we’ve changed basically everything that was on the car, and it should be fine for tomorrow. It shouldn’t have any influence on our weekend apart from, obviously, the lack of kilometres and laps in FP2. That’s a bit unfortunate, because that’s where we normally prepare the race, and Sunday seems to be dry, so we’ll go a little bit into the unknown there, but tomorrow should be very different with rain around. I’m looking forward [to wet weather] because the last few races I’ve been struggling in those conditions, but I’ve been working quite a bit on that, so I’m confident it will be better.”
Sainz: “It was quite a tricky day out there with the wind, and trying to get used to the conditions and the car around this track is quite tricky. We actually did a pretty good step forward from FP1 to FP2, trying different set-ups, trying different directions to go to try and improve the car in these conditions. It looked like it worked, but still our race pace doesn’t look great, and we will need to keep working on it. We are definitely trying to work around [tyre degradation] because we know it’s going to be our main weakness this weekend. We are pushing hard to see what we can do to manage them better. Mercedes, for example, did a much better job than us, Red Bull a much better job. Although today we look like we are P2, we know that there is some homework to do overnight. I’m ready for it. Whatever comes it comes. I love driving in the wet, like you know, and I’ve been quick in those conditions recently. Whatever comes comes and I will enjoy it. I think Red Bull are still favourites, but we could be good. The race is going to be more tricky, but quali depends also on the conditions, if it’s wet, not wet. I think it’s going to be good fun and a typical British Saturday here.”
Hamilton: “It was very windy out there, as it often is here at Silverstone. I think that’s something that helps it become the best track in the world. It definitely made the car more inconsistent though, but we’re also battling the same challenges that we have been for the majority of the season. It’s a tough car to drive and it continues to be so. On the single lap, we didn’t seem to make any improvement between tyres which suggests we’re missing something. The positive for us is that the long run pace wasn’t too bad. The balance is tricky, but we will work on in tonight. We will also have Mick in the simulator so hopefully we can come up with some solutions for tomorrow. We’re not in the same race as the Red Bulls but I’m hoping we can fight for the podium, even though it will take a big push. The fans have been phenomenal since yesterday already and hopefully we can give them something to cheer about.”
Alonso: “It’s good to be back at Silverstone and racing just across the road from our AMR Technology Campus. This circuit always provides a lot of adrenaline for us in Formula One cars. It was very windy today which made it quite tricky, but the car felt good. We tested a few things in both sessions and there is more for us to analyse tonight. The weather looks like it could change tomorrow, so let’s see what conditions we are facing.”
Williams not only surprised the F1 fans but themselves too as they did not expect such pace over one lap without them doing anything major. Their high-speed package delivered but they hope that it works over race pace which will bring them points.
The rise of Williams will be a big headache for both McLaren and Alpine F1 pairs. Although they looked decent especially the latter on Friday, their hope will be carrying the performance throughout the weekend which has always been the problem.
While Lando Norris felt a bit 50-50, Pierre Gasly reckon their day was pretty solid with no major drama. For the likes of Alfa Romeo, Haas and AlphaTauri, it was a mixed bag where Nico Hulkenberg again made it inside the Top 10 in FP2.
For Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri, they both brought good updates and both the F1 teams’ drivers felt good initially while leaving it with the generic quotient of ‘more to come’. Pirelli, meanwhile, were satisfied with first proper running of the new construction.
Albon: “It was a bit surprising in some ways. I have to say unexpected, you know. We’re not playing around doing weird things, it’s just a normal day for us. Clearly, we crossed the line and we’re in the top three, so a bit of – in some ways – head scratching, but at the same time the car feels good. We’ve got an upgrade on the car that we’ve had for two races now. At least on the simulator it’s shown to be a bit more effective in the high-speed than the low-speed, and we haven’t really had too much high-speed tracks the last few races – Austria and Canada aren’t really that. It’s the first time we’ve seen the package working on a quick circuit and it’s looking quite good. But we’ve got to keep ourselves grounded, it’s [about] chipping away. The wind, the way that it is this weekend, it’s so strong, I think everyone… It doesn’t feel good around here, I think it feels terrible for everyone, but clearly less terrible for us than others, so let’s see. Tomorrow is going to be likely wet for a little bit. I hope it stays dry, I hope it’s similar weather to this, but let’s see what happens tomorrow. But still the focus is on Sunday, because overtaking here is pretty easy, so you need a good race car. Our race pace was actually OK; it wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t bad.”
Norris: “A bit of a tricky day. I was struggling quite a bit with the car balance and confidence. It hasn’t been the best of starts but we’ve still got plenty of time to work it through. We’re probably not at the same level as we were in Austria, but we know we can get more out of the car.”
Gasly: “Firstly, it’s very enjoyable to drive at such an awesome circuit in front of so many fans. Even on a Friday, the grandstands were full at every corner and that really is good to see for us drivers. On track, it’s been a solid day for us with no real issues and we progressed through our run plan as expected. I definitely think there’s more to come from us and I look forward to tomorrow’s Practice to again try some things and find improvements ahead of Qualifying.”
De Vries: “The car performance was decent in FP1, but FP2 was more difficult. With all the updates we brought this weekend, it takes time to understand their behaviour. We’ll go through all our data tonight to learn as much as possible, to get ready for qualifying tomorrow afternoon.”
Hulkenberg: “It’s fast here, super dynamic and also the wind direction was good today when going through all of the nice high-speed sections. It’s impressive the speed and the change of direction and the forces we go through. It was an okay day today, the long run didn’t feel too bad, but I was almost always by myself, alone, so it isn’t entirely representative come Sunday. We’re trying to get on top of the long runs a bit more and find some more pace, tire management and see what we can do. I think one lap pace looked okay but we need to focus on what we can do better in the race to extract the most.”
Guanyu: “The upgrades we have brought here seem to be working as we expected; of course, it is difficult to make predictions based on practice sessions: we will find out where we really stand only when qualifying starts. Today has been all about getting to learn these new parts, and testing different setups. I slightly struggled with the balance, but overall, I think P11 is a decent result – and if we manage to fine tune every detail, I am confident we will be able to extract much more from our car. Tonight, all of our work will go into reviewing the data we have gathered today and analysing it to make a further step forward tomorrow.”
Pirelli: “It was a very interesting day with a lot of data acquired and useful information especially looking to the race. We saw that the teams maybe concentrated more than usual in FP2 on assessing tyre behaviour over a long run, in some cases running a half-race distance on one set. This was the case for Hulkenberg who did 25 laps on a set of Hards, 20 of them in one run. The new construction made what one could call its official debut here, following on from the prototype test in Barcelona. From what we have seen so far there were no problems nor changes in tyre behaviour. It’s worth noting that compared to last year, the lap times have come down considerably: almost nine tenths quicker when comparing the best 2022 time of 1.28.942 with today’s 1.28.078, although today’s track temperature was 15 °C higher.”
Here’s how F1 British GP FP1 panned out
Here’s how F1 British GP FP2 panned out