“Boring” practice offers little insight into form

“I found the day very boring,” said Sergio Perez after today’s washed out practice sessions. “There wasn’t much we could do and it was impossible to complete our test programme.”

If it was bad for him, it was much worse for the thousands of fans who had queued for hours to get in who were greeted by little practice running. Unluckiest of all were those who failed to make it in at all.

For those looking for clues as to how the weekend might unfold, today’s two practice sessions offered little insight.

While Lewis Hamilton topped the times the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso ran intermediate tyres in the second session, despite the heavy rain, to preserve their tyre allocation. There are likely to be two more days of very wet running still ahead.

Alonso’s crash at the end of second practice cost him one of the team’s new specification front wings. Fortunately for Williams, Bruno Senna was not running their latest kit when he crashed at Chapel.

Incidents like this explain much of the teams’ reluctance to turn practice laps in very wet conditions, particularly when the rain is still falling and the pools of standing water are swelling.

For what it’s worth, here’s the data from today’s practice sessions:

Longest stint comparison – second session

This chart shows all the drivers’ lap times (in seconds) during their longest unbroken stint:

Sector times and ultimate lap times – second session

Complete practice times

Speed trap – second session

2012 British Grand Prix

• Second Driver of the Weekend win for Mark Webber
• Rate the race result: 2012 British Grand Prix
• Hamilton’s doughnut and more fans’ videos from Silverstone
• Silverstone fans’ mixed views on the rain-hit weekend
• Top three tie in British predictions round

Image © Sauber F1 Team