The Mercedes AMG Petronas team were positive despite the ‘very British summer day’ which disrupted the running of practice at Silverstone ahead of the Grand Prix. With the whole field completing a total of 396 practice laps compared to the 1467 in Canada just four weeks ago the team faced limited running.
Michael Schumacher, famed for his past-performances in the wet weather told how important the wet-weather running was in practice. “There are still things to be learned on days like these and the positive about today’s rain was that it is also forecast for tomorrow and Sunday. This meant that we were able to use today to prepare for the race, primarily on the wet tyres.”
Schumacher admitted that the team tried intermediate tyres but saw no gain in the conditions from running on the different rubber. “The rain was constant, which allowed us to at least complete some parts of our programme. There was a lot of standing water, but it was hard to spot from the cockpit, which meant that the drivers had to be very vigilant.
“Today’s sessions went okay and, in any case, we know that at this circuit, with its particular characteristics, rain offers us good chances and opportunities.” he commented.
Nico Rosberg was happy with the results from the limted session. “In general, it was a good and productive day for us. We improved the set-up during the break which helped as we were quicker in the afternoon.
“It’s very unusual that the weather forecast for the whole weekend is wet, and we didn’t run that much to save our limited wet tyres. The conditions were really quite tricky out there with all the puddles, and it was very difficult to find the right limit. I hope we can continue to make progress tomorrow.”
Team Principal Ross Brawn thanked the fans who braved the extreme weather to watch practice. “A very British ‘summer’ day here at Silverstone, and we must say a big thank you to the fans who have braved the unpleasant conditions to be here for their fantastic support today.
“In such poor track conditions, often we won’t persevere with trying to achieve much running, but it was important for us to find a good balance and set-up on the wet tyres today as these conditions are expected to remain for the weekend. From that perspective it was a reasonable day, and the cars seem to be well-balanced. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
