British Grand Prix 2012: Hamilton fastest in rain-drenched practice

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton sets the pace in Friday’s second practice session for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone

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By Charli Burden Friday 6 July 2012, 16:32 UK

Lewis Hamilton salutes the crowd at SilverstonePhoto: Courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

lewis hamilton

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton set the pace in a rain-interrupted second practice ahead of Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

It is the third time Hamilton has been fastest in free practice two this season, after Lotus’ Romain Grosjean set the pace in the morning session.

After completing the most laps of anyone in the difficult conditions, Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi was rewarded with a second-quickest time, 0.129 seconds behind Hamilton.

Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher took third, closely followed by his team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Despite record-breaking numbers of fans turning out to watch practice, the bad weather turned second session into a washout.

An early lap from Bruno Senna showed the conditions were too difficult early on and after clocking a 2:10.215, the Williams driver told his team there was no point continuing. The spectators were frustrated as no cars were out on track in the first half of practice.

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Washout: Friday’s practice sessions at Silverstone were severely disrupted by the weather (Getty Images/Red Bull Racing)

“I feel sorry for the fans out there because so many turned up but we have to save all the tyres we have as we don’t have spare tyres to waste,” said Hamilton as he went for a stroll down the pit lane during the rain break.

“I would like some more tyres personally, more so for the fans as there are so many today and it is boring for them to just sit there. They have paid a lot of money to be here so we should be putting on a show for them. It is constructive criticism, maybe we can do a little more on days like this.”

Despite a red flag when Bruno Senna crashed his Williams into the barriers, the fans did finally see some action in the last 15 minutes as the drivers struggled to stay on the soggy track.

Drivers’ championship leader Fernando Alonso hit the barriers on the final lap, breaking the front wing off his Ferrari while trying out the intermediate tyres.