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Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo set the pace in a rain-hit first practice session for the 2013 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Friday.
With puddles of standing water covering much of the track, only 11 drivers elected to set a lap time, with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen amongst those who did not complete a timed effort.
For the first 77 minutes of the 90-minute session, nobody had been brave enough to record a lap time, before Ricciardo took his STR8 round in 2m 00.029s. Fittingly, the Australian later improved to 1m 54.249s to make sure that he ended up on top for Franz Tost's team, 0.784s ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg. The German lapped in 1m 55.033s, as a late improvement pushed Williams' Pastor Maldonado to 1m 55.354s.
Lewis Hamilton's sole fast lap for Mercedes was an edgy 1m 55.458s which was fastest by almost four seconds at the time he set it.
Esteban Gutierrez was fifth on 1m 55.825s in the second Sauber, followed by Valtteri Bottas on 1m 56.361s in the second Williams, Jean-Eric Vergne on 1m 57.891s in the second Toro Rosso, Giedo van der Garde for Caterham on 1m 58.859s, and the Marussias of Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi on 1m 59.719s and 1m 59.876s respectively.
Felipe Massa managed 2m 06.534s for Ferrari, and Caterham's Charles Pic was the only other driver to attempt a time. The Frenchman, however, spun and took off his front wing at Club Corner (Turn 18).
Force India's simulator driver James Rossiter, who had been expected to take Adrian Sutil's seat for first practice, sadly didn't get a run because of the wet conditions.
Sutil was one of 10 drivers (including Vettel, Alonso, Pic, Mercedes' Nico Rosberg, Force India's Paul di Resta, Lotus's Romain Grosjean, McLaren's Jenson Button and Sergio Perez, and Red Bull's Mark Webber) to appear only for a brief installation lap, whilst Raikkonen didn't venture out on track at all. (Formula1.com)
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