Friday afternoon at most Grand Prix weekends – with the notable exception of Monaco – is time for the drivers’ second practice session, so last Friday saw Free Practice 2 for the 2014 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
The session was eagerly anticipated by the crowds given that FP1 had been full of action that morning, including a raft of test drivers getting outings in the race car – some, like Susie Wolff for the first time during a Grand Prix weekend – and a mix of mechanical and driver issues meaning that several drivers did not see out the whole session. Nico Rosberg had finished the session on top, but could he, or his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton, do the same in FP2?
Like FP1, there was plenty of action on track, and also like FP1, the session was not without incident. The Caterham of Marcus Ericsson did not see out the session, after a similar fate in the first practice session, and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton soon joined it, coming to a halt not far from me. I watched as Lewis stopped his car, and got out and walked off.
Near the end of the session, Jean-Eric Vergne‘s Toro Rosso came to a halt not far from Hamilton, and I was starting to think that the area would need double yellow lines for the rest of the weekend, given that it was starting to resemble a car park.
Jean-Eric studied his car before leaving, and interestingly, his car was recovered immediately, even though Lewis’ Mercedes was still sitting where it stopped.
Another oddity of the session was with Williams, who had more than their fair share of issues in FP1. Valtteri Bottas‘ car had what appeared to be a small explosion in the engine which blew part of the engine cover from the car. Most odd.
Even though his car did not see out the full session, Lewis Hamilton still managed to set the fastest time in Free Practice 2, with his team mate Rosberg second.
Here are a few of my photos from the session.
