Friday’s practice sessions were wet but the rest of the weekend is expected to stay dry, unlike last year’s downpour.
ROS was fastest in Free Practice 3 earlier today (1:31.487) followed by HAM and VET.
PER caused FP3 to be red flagged briefly after losing his left-rear tyre.
MAS missed the end of FP3 as the Ferrari team decided to change his engine.
Tyre choices this weekend are the hard (orange) prime tyre and the medium (white) option compound.
Air temperature 18°C; track 28°C; wind 6.5m/s
There are no penalties carried over from the Canadian Grand Prix.
My GridBids picks for this weekend are: WEB, MAS, BUT, ROS, HAM, DIR & CHI – yes, I picked all the Brits 🙂
Oh, and in case you missed the news yesterday, WEB announced he’s leaving F1 at the end of this season.
Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
HUL is first to take to the track
HUL 1:35.806
GUT 1:33.697
GRO 1:32.586
GRO 1:32.401
ALO 1:32.266
GRO 1:31.964
10mins left of Q1; 8 drivers yet to set a time
ROS 1:31.355 but he’s on options – everyone else was on prime tyres
HAM 1:30.995
ALO fighting oversteer in his Ferrari
4mins left of Q1; BUT and VDG yet to set a time
BUT finally posts a time and jumps to P8
90secs left; bottom 6 are BOT, MAS, PIC, BIA, CHI, VDG
Chequered flag; MAS on a quick lap
MAS to P14
BOT to P16, relegating GUT
MAL to P16, relegating BOT
Back of the grid: BOT, GUT, PIC, BIA, VDG, CHI
Qualifying 2
WEB 1:31.341
5mins into Q2 with WEB still fastest
ROS 1:31.028
Radio for WEB saying they expect his current time will be about the cutoff point so he’ll have to do another run
VET 1:30.990
2mins left of Q2; bottom 6 are VER, BUT, MAS, MAL, PER, HUL
Chequered flag; BUT and MAS hoping to make it into the top 10
BUT to P10 – will it be enough?
ALO to P8 bumps BUT to P11
MAS can only manage P12
Middle of the grid: BUT, MAS, VER, PER, HUL, MAL
Qualifying 3
Battling over the top 10 grid spots are VET, WEB, ROS, SUT, RIC, HAM, DIR, ALO, GRO & RAI
Green light, and RIC immediately exits the pit lane
ALO & SUT go out on primes
RIC 1:31.579
WEB 1:30.508
ROS 1:30.231
(GRO P3, ALO P4)
HAM 1:30.096
(VET P4)
4mins left; order is HAM, ROS, WEB, VET, GRO, ALO, RIC; no time yet from DIR, SUT or RAI
Pits for new tyres
Chequered flag; HAM looking quick
(WEB P2)
ROS 1:30.059
HAM 1:29.607
(VET P3)
Front of the grid: HAM, ROS, VET, WEB, DIR, RIC, SUT, GRO, RAI, ALO
Provisional grid: HAM, ROS, VET, WEB, DIR, RIC, SUT, GRO, RAI, ALO; BUT, MAS, VER, PER, HUL, MAL; BOT, GUT, PIC, BIA, VDG, CHI
The FIA announced “Paul di Resta has been excluded from Saturday’s qualifying results after his Force India was found to be underweight in post-session checks at Silverstone.” So DIR has dropped from P5 to P22.