Mark Webber home and dry as rain frustrates ahead of British GP

Mark Webber was the fastest driver over Friday's two practice sessions, both of which were affected by poor conditions. Felipe Massa was quickest in the second, afternoon run, but he was 3.3sec behind Webber's earlier time. The Australian said: "I think everybody expected this weather today – it looks a bit better for tomorrow and Sunday. It's normal for Silverstone, as the rain showers come fast and the wind is high, so the conditions can change quite quickly." Massa, the fastest driver in the second session, made the most of improving conditions as the track dried, to finish ahead of Nico Rosberg and Kamui Kobayashi. The McLaren pair of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were fourth and fifth in the afternoon, with the Red Bulls of Webber and Sebastian Vettel back in 14th and 18th. But the conditions were so bad for much of the afternoon that the times were mostly meaningless. The rain started to fall before the session got under way, and that restricted the number of cars taking part early on. Massa produced his time of 1:49.967 just before the end, knocking Rosberg off his perch. "It was the last lap of the day so the track was getting better," he said. "It was a difficult day because it was raining all the time. I just used one set of intermediate tyres all day because if it's raining tomorrow we will need them." The morning practice run was another damp affair, though conditions were markedly better, along with the times. Webber finished top, ahead of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. But again most of the leading men were down the field. Hamilton rolled in eighth, while Vettel was 13th, two places ahead of Button. The most memorable incident of the day was not any time set but the crash involving Kobayashi, who lost control of his car on Turn 18 and almost rolled his Sauber before colliding heavily with the barriers. After his two runs, Button said: "It was a bit of a frustrating session. It dried out after first practice and we thought it would be nice and dry for P2 [the second session] to get some nice comparisons – but no. We did some running in the wet but it was surprisingly slippery around here. We used the intermediate tyre not the wets. "It was very, very slippery, and maybe the reason for that is the rule change, but we'll have to wait and see tomorrow. This afternoon we struggled with the balance. "We haven't really tested the new rear wing so we don't know if it's giving us what we had with our previous wing. It is a different downforce level but I'm not sure whether we'll be running it tomorrow or not." Even Vettel struggled. "The circuit was changing a lot," he said, "so it was hard to find out too much and understand the effect of the changes introduced this weekend. But we will learn more tomorrow. I was happy with the car today and the balance, even in these conditions. I have all the pit crew on my helmet at this year's race, their local race, to say thank you for all their hard work." Fernando Alonso looked a little circumspect. "We know that we have lost some downforce under braking [because of the rule changes] but it was not a problem today as we were not braking at the limit in dry conditions," he said. "It is very, very difficult to see any difference in the car compared to Valencia. But it's always nice to come to Silverstone, an historic track of Formula One and for Ferrari, which took its first championship race here 60 years ago. "I like the new paddock. The only strange thing is the final part of the pit lane, which is lower than the track, which means the spectators cannot see the pit stops from the grandstands." On Friday, though, it was the drivers who were more frustrated than the spectators. The conditions did not allow them to gain a true reading of the track while the experimentation with the new rules governing the blown diffuser clampdown was largely meaningless. Teams were working furiously to prepare their cars. But with more rain forecast , and perhaps on Sunday, most people will be making it up as they go along. Second practice times 1 Felipe Massa (Br) Ferrari 1min 49.967sec 2 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:50.744 3 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber 1:51.395 4 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:51.438 5 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:51.518 6 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 1:51.738 7 Paul Di Resta (GB) Force India-Mercedes 1:51.781 8 Rubens Barrichello (Br) Williams-Cosworth 1:51.992 9 Sergio Pérez (Mex) Sauber 1:52.169 10 Sébastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:52.189 11 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:52.198 12 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:52.325 13 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus-Renault 1:52.578 14 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:52.587 15 Fernando Alonso (Sp) Ferrari 1:52.869 16 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault 1:54.023 17 Jaime Alguersuari (Sp) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:54.274 18 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 1:54.545 19 Jérôme d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin-Cosworth 1:54.714 20 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams-Cosworth 1:55.155 21 Jarno Trulli (It) Lotus-Renault 1:55.155 22 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin-Cosworth 1:55.549 23 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Hispania-Cosworth 1:55.828 24 Vitantonio Liuzzi (It) Hispania-Cosworth 1:56.037 First practice times 1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1min 46.603sec 2 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:47.263 3 Rubens Barrichello (Br) Williams-Cosworth 1:47.347 4 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber 1:47.422 5 Felipe Massa (Br) Ferrari 1:47.562 6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:47.758 7 Fernando Alonso (Sp) Ferrari 1:48.161 8 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:48.549 9 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 1:48.598 10 Jaime Alguersuari (Sp) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.678 11 Paul Di Resta (GB) Force India-Mercedes 1:48.730 12 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.778 13 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 1:48.794 14 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams-Cosworth 1:48.809 15 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:48.841 16 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault 1:48.941 17 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:49.603 18 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber 1:50.133 19 Jarno Trulli (It) Lotus-Renault 1:50.222 20 Karun Chandhok (Ind) Lotus-Renault 1:51.119 21 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin-Cosworth 1:52.470 22 Vitantonio Liuzzi (It) Hispania-Cosworth 1:53.143 23 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin-Cosworth 1:53.469 24 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Hispania-Cosworth 1:54.334