19/06/2009
NEWS STORY
Romain Grosjean has topped the time sheets this morning in free practice at Silverstone, claiming the position by two tenths from Andreas Zuber and Karun Chandhok. The Frenchman's time of 1:26.808 set the cat among the pigeons early in the session, but his rivals had no reply in the cool, overcast conditions that descended on the famous circuit.
With gusts of wind picking up at the start of the session everyone was on track as soon as possible to make sure they gained some data in case of rain, but Nico Hülkenberg was soon walking back to the pits after stopping at Copse on his first flying lap after suffering a mechanical problem. Local resident Chandhok and Zuber were swapping places at the top of the time sheets until Grosjean set his best lap just ten minutes in, and the stage was set for a fight.
Zuber was pushing for more but had a big moment at Beckets, losing his bargeboards during a wild ride across the grass before limping back to the pits, and when Pastor Maldonado hit the wall at Copse a minute later the subsequent yellow flags brought everyone back to the pits for a breather and a new set of tyres.
Unfortunately the temperature dropped at that stage and improvements were unlikely, and when Sergio Perez spun to a halt with a few minutes remaining in the session the red flags were soon waving and the session was over. Behind the top three were Lucas di Grassi, Alvaro Parente, Maldonado, Javier Villa and Vitaly Petrov, all of whom will have one eye on the sky and the other on their rivals in this afternoon's qualifying session.