Bridgestone Motorsport's 2010 British Grand Prix Friday Update

Bridgestone's soft tyre took Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber to the fastest time of the day at the new configuration Silverstone circuit for the first day of the British Grand Prix. Webber set a 1m 31.234secs lap under glorious blue skies in front of a bumper crowd. His teammate Sebastian Vettel was the fastest in the morning, using the hard compound Bridgestone.

Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing Credit: Bridgestone Motorsport

"Today we experienced Silverstone's new layout for the first time in Formula One. The track layout is certainly interesting and it was good to see the drivers adapt to this new challenge. The track surface was slippery which was illustrated many times as drivers battled a lack of grip. The surface improved quite a lot through the sessions, and I think there is still room for further surface improvement tomorrow. Temperatures were higher than we've seen here for the past few seasons and this had an impact on tyre performance. Drivers will have to be careful not to overheat their tyres, and those who do not will be rewarded with better performance."

"A lot depends on the weather. The track layout and surface here puts a lot of heat into the tyres and the ambient and track temperatures add to this. When the tyres get very hot the rubber of the softer one moves around more. This means that the greater heat durability of the hard tyre becomes more desirable, even if it doesn't offer the same amount of initial grip as the soft. Because of these factors, the choice for qualifying and the race could be challenging and interesting this weekend."

Stats of the Day

Practice One 10:00 - 11:30

Driver            Team                       Time      Tyre
Sebastian Vettel  Red Bull Racing            1m 32.280s  H
Lewis Hamilton    Vodafone McLaren Mercedes  1m 32.614s  H
Robert Kubica     Renault F1 Team            1m 32.725s  H


Practice Two 14:00 - 15:30

Driver            Team                       Time      Tyre
Mark Webber       Red Bull Racing            1m 31.234s  S
Fernando Alonso   Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro  1m 31.626s  S
Sebastian Vettel  Red Bull Racing            1m 31.875s  S

Compounds used: Hard (prime) / Soft (option)

Temperatures     Ambient  Track        Weather
AM - Practice 1  22C-26C  27C-34C      Sunny
PM - Practice 2  30C-29C  40C-41C-39C  Sunny

Print This Page	Go back to the previous page