Ahead of the weekend's sole practice session the air temperature is 18 degrees C, while the track temperature is 24 degrees.
Being right beside the North Sea - on the other side of which sits the Pitpass HQ - you will not be surprised to hear that, though now bright and sunny, it has been raining, and has been for most of the morning. Indeed, according to Race Control, there is a 60% chance of further rain.
Under normal circumstances, what with this being a Sprint weekend, this would make things difficult for the drivers, but let's not forget that the majority have had no significant wet running so far this year.
For those of you that comprise what Stefano Domenicali describes as the "niche", in terms of updates, McLaren has a new Rear Wing, Coke/Engine and Rear Corner. The new rear wing assembly has been designed and delivered to this event, with the aim of increasing aerodynamic load efficiently in all conditions, while the furniture around the coke as well as the tailpipe has been revised to extract additional efficient aerodynamic performance in conjunction with the rear wing. The rear brake duct has been revised internally as well as externally, and is aimed at improving flow conditioning resulting in better aerodynamic and brake cooling performance.
Mercedes has a new Front Corner. The drum front lip has been detached from the duct inlet and the camber adjusted. This (detaching the lip from the duct inlet) improves flow quality over the inboard face of the drum throughout the steer range, improving flow to the rear of the car.
Red Bull has a new Front Corner. To improve reliability of the wheel bodywork assembly, the lower wishbone rearward leg chord length has been locally shrunk to reduce strain on the gaitor at high steering angles.
Ferrari has a new Floor Body, Floor Board, Floor Edge, Diffuser and Beam Wing. The floor development targets a global increase in aerodynamic load across the entire operating range, combined with improved robustness of the underlying flow mechanisms, enhanced flow topology, and greater flow energy delivered to the rear diffuser. Benefitting from improved onset flow quality, the diffuser expansion and geometry has been further optimized and returns increased aerodynamic load, whilst still maintaining flow stability. The minor update to the beam wing sees it working in interaction with the new rear diffuser, with particular attention put on flow quality.
Further to the upgrade package in Hungary, Aston Martin has a new Front Wing, Front Wing Endplate, Floor Fences and Diffuser. The local changes to the final element of the front wing and to the inboard foot of the endplate improves the performance of the new front wing introduced in Hungary, while the optional flap on the front wing extends the range of balance that can be achieved with front wing adjustment for car setup optimisation. The changes at the back of the car work in combination to increase rear load after evaluating the performance of the new package.
Of course, the Silverstone-based outfit also has the new engine from Honda.
Alpine has a new Floor Body, Floor Board, Floor Edge, Diffuser, Sidepod/Coke, Rear Corner, Rear Impact Structure and Rear Wing. The floor geometry has been revised to improve surface flow quality throughout the operating envelope and deliver increased local aerodynamic loading, while the floor board has been reprofiled to improve the quality of the flow delivered to the rear of the car. The floor edges and profiles have been redesigned to increase local aerodynamic loading, enhancing airflow management, efficiency, and overall performance gains, while the diffuser geometry has been developed to increase local aerodynamic loading, thereby providing an efficient performance gain across the full operating envelope of the car. As part of this update, the bodywork has been redesigned to work efficiently alongside the new floor while maintaining sufficient cooling capacity. Elements on the rear drum face have been reprofiled to improve flow interaction with the floor and deliver local load. The new updated geometry is aimed at increasing aerodynamic load locally and efficiently throughout the operating range of the car, while on the rear wing the flap profile has been refined to efficiently increase rear wing load while maintaining a high-quality, stable flow-field.
As a reminder, due to a wrist injury, Lawson replaces Hadjar at Red Bull, while Tsunoda partners Lindblad at RB.
Ahead of the green light, it is declared a wet track.
Hulkenberg is first out, his Audi sporting the obligatory Inters. He is followed by Hamilton, Piastri, Ocon, Antonelli and Lindblad.
"It's pretty dry already, I think slicks," reports Hulkenberg as he posts a 26.555.
Piastri pits and switches to mediums as Hamilton posts a 25.562.
Despite his previous comment, Hulkenberg continues on the green-banded rubber, as Colapinto goes second with a 25.843.
As Russell switches to mediums, Piastri stops the clock at 23.311.
The RB pair head out on hards as Piastri improves to 20.480 and Hamilton (Inters) 25.562.
No sooner has Russell gone second than his teammate, also on mediums, goes top with an 18.264.
Tsunoda goes fourth with a 21.448, ahead of his teammate who posts a 22.042.
A 17.444 from Russell is followed by a 16.112 from his Mercedes teammate.
Piastri splits the Mercedes pair with a 17.035.
Albon and Sainz, who have yet to post a time, head out on softs as Leclerc goes eighth with a 20.227.
Hamilton, now on mediums, goes fifth with a 17.709.
Antonelli raises the bar with a 15.351, as Russell goes second and Leclerc third.
As the Red Bull pair head out, Alonso goes seventh with a 17.631.
As Race Control reports normal grip conditions the order continues to change and the timing screen light up like a Pinball machine.
Lawson goes fourth on the hards while a lock-up means his teammate can only manage a 17.735.
Looking set to improve, Piastri encounters traffic in the final sector.
As Sainz goes off into the gravel at Turn 13 the yellows are waved.
Russell goes top with a 14.951, ahead of Hamilton, Antonelli and Leclerc.
As Hamilton posts a 14.742, ominous, dark clouds are heading towards the circuit.
Norris goes fourth, ahead of Antonelli, Verstappen, Piastri and Lawson.
Another off for Sainz as he misses the chicane.
"I was almost in the wall because of that downshift," reports Verstappen. "Ridiculous," he adds.
Antonelli retakes second and his teammate third, like Hamilton they are on mediums, while fifth-placed Verstappen is on hards.
"I don't know what happened there," says Antonelli following a spin in Turn 10.
Leclerc goes top with a 14.146, 0.113s up on his teammate.
With just over 25 minutes remaining, following a brief lull, more and more drivers pour on to the track.
Alpine's Steve Nielsen reveals that only Gasly is running the aero upgrade, which probably explains why the Frenchman is currently ninth and the Argentine twentieth.
Alonso looks set to improve but a mistake in Turn 12 sees him fail to do so. Shortly after, Hamilton follows suit.
Out come the yellows when Verstappen runs wide in Turn 13, the Dutchman blaming oversteer.
Leclerc, Piastri and Lawson head out on softs as the qualifying sims get underway.
Colapinto (softs) improves to sixth with a 14.826.
A mistake in S1 sees Leclerc abort his first flyer, while Piastri goes purple.
The Australian maintains the pace in S2, finally crossing the line at 13.608.
PBs in all three sectors see Verstappen improve to fifth, as Leclerc retakes the top spot with a 13.347.
Gasly goes third (13.911), but is demoted when Hamilton crosses the line at 13.139.
Hulkenberg goes fourth with a 13.784, as Alonso goes eighth (14.511).
Bortoleto goes sixth, ahead of Antonelli, Verstappen and Alonso.
Quickest in S1, despite traffic in S3, Norris goes top with a 13.105.
Russell goes fourth (13.466), as his teammate loses time behind Hulkenberg on the banking.
Lindblad improves to tenth and Lawson fourteenth.
Quickest in S2, Antonelli posts a 12.949 to go top as Leclerc remains fourth, despite going purple in S3.
A mistake in Turn 11, followed by an encounter with traffic, means Lawson is unable to improve.
Quickest in S2, Norris improves slightly but remains second, as Russell goes third with a 13.074.
The session ends. Antonelli is quickest, ahead of Norris, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc, Piastri, Hulkenberg, Gasly, Bortoleto and Lindblad.
Verstappen is eleventh, ahead of Alonso, Colapinto, Lawson, Bearman, Ocon, Tsunoda, Stroll, Albon, Bottas, Perez and Sainz.
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