Sebastian Vettel ends Silverstone test with fastest time - The defending champion returns to the car and to the top
Published by Christine
The testing action at Silverstone drew to a close with another gloriously sunny day and plenty of laps completed. Williams commanded a lot of attention with the introduction of Susie Wolff to the testing lineup. Having previously completed only straight line testing to this point, it was a step up for Ms Wolff. She managed 89 laps and finished 9th overall.
The team did a great job getting me through the day, talking me through everything step by step. In hindsight it would have been good to run the new tyres later in the day after I’d had more time in the car as I don’t think I got the best out of the medium tyres. Physically it wasn’t easy, but it was what I was expecting. I was well prepared so it was completely manageable.
- Susie Wolff, development driver, Williams
There were a few issues today, with car trouble on the Marussia sending Jules Bianchi off track and out of the session. Daniil Kvyat was behind the wheel of the Toro Rosso for the first time and had a brief spin. It was also interesting to see the return of James Calado in the Force India. Adrian Sutil did most of the day's running but Calado jumped in the car for just a handful of laps. I wonder what little thing they needed to re-test?
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1:32.894 | 79 |
| 2 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 1:33.242 | 99 |
| 3 | Nicolas Prost | Lotus | 1:33.256 | 83 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz Junior | Red Bull | 1:33.546 | 35 |
| 5 | Davide Rigon | Ferrari | 1:33.592 | 20 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:33.624 | 69 |
| 7 | Jean-Éric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:33.647 | 42 |
| 8 | Gary Paffett | McLaren | 1:34.294 | 77 |
| 9 | Susie Wolff | Williams | 1:35.093 | 89 |
| 10 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 1:35.155 | 85 |
| 11 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:35.281 | 22 |
| 12 | Charles Pic | Caterham | 1:35.576 | 60 |
| 13 | Kimiya Sato | Sauber | 1:35.642 | 67 |
| 14 | Rodolfo González | Marussia | 1:36.339 | 24 |
| 15 | James Calado | Force India | 1:36.451 | 5 |
| 16 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 1:36.744 | 39 |
It was a bumper day for drivers, with sixteen names on the timesheets. Seven current F1 drivers were in action, with the rest genuine testers. Poor old/young/somewhere in between driver Gary Paffett took a turn behind the wheel of the McLaren, whilst González was back with the Marussia team.
We've cut short our PM session after Jules' off. Combination of too much to fix in the time remaining & need to look into it a little more
Marussia_F1Team
Very productive morning! We followed the tyre plan from Pirelli, I am quite happy with new tyres...
Vettel's verdict in new Pirelli tyres? "Not that much of a difference." Question time ran out before could ask if he can now drive to limit
Track action over - but our work isn't. The end of the test is the start of our Hungarian GP preparations.
Three days of running complete and not very much learned on this side of the fence. There haven't been huge complaints about how awful the tyres are, which is probably a good thing. Tracking which drivers would be running and when became slightly annoying, but seeing the current drivers doing some mid-season testing is fun, no matter the conditions.
