Sauber's Hülkenberg tested new prototype tyre on Friday practice at Silverstone

As expected Silverstone lived up to expectations with bad weather and welcomed the drivers with a wet FP1 this morning, which left spectators waiting for track action.

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber C32

Photo by: XPB Images

During the second practice session conditions were still not ideal, but improved enough so the Sauber F1 Team drivers could run through the main items of the programme.

Nico Hülkenberg also managed to get a few laps on the new prototype tyre compound that Pirelli had provided to all teams today. Especially in the long runs, there is still some room for improvement.

Nico Hülkenberg (FP2: P12th, 1:33.896 min, 36 laps): “We couldn’t really learn much this morning, especially because it is supposed to be dry tomorrow, but here you never know. However that was the same situation for all the teams. The second practice this afternoon was good. We were able to change to dry tyres fairly quickly.

Of course, the programme is a bit different without having a proper FP1 and it can get hectic sometimes, but I think we managed to work through the programme quite well. We learned a lot about the tyres and had a good, consistent long run. The set up of the car can still be improved, but that is normal after loosing so much time this morning.”

Esteban Gutiérrez (FP2: P15th, 1:34.998 min, 32 laps): “This morning was a little bit frustraiting. It was too wet and we had to wait quite a long time to go out. Tomorrow is supposed to be dry, so it didn’t make sense to run in the wet. Fortunately it was dry in the afternoon and we managed to get a good number of laps on all three tyre compounds and high fuel, so that was positive.

We were getting consistent laps and now we need to evaluate the two different set ups we had on the cars. It seems Nico’s configuration was a little bit better on the downforce, especially in the fast corners. So now we need to evaluate the data and make a decision for qualifying tomorrow.”

Tom McCullough, Head of Track Engineering: “The rain was a bit too heavy this morning to warrant doing much running, and we also have had a lot of experience of where we are running in the wet so far this year. This afternoon with an improving track it’s never ideal for comparing set-ups, but we managed to get through our main test items.

Nico was reasonably happy with his new option tyre run, but we still have some work to do with regards to long-run pace if we want to have a strong race on Sunday.”

Sauber F1 Team