The typical British summer conditions (moist, grey and quite cold) prompted everyone out on the wet tyres to start the only practice session of the weekend. After a Virtual Safety Car test a handful of drivers remained out to finish some laps. Williams junior Franco Colapinto was the first one to go to the top in a time of 2:02.326.
Championship leader Paul Aron is the first one to go below the 2 minute mark, as more and more drivers emerge from pit lane. The Trident duo of Richard Verschoor and Roman Staněk go to second and third, followed by Amauri Cordeel and Joshua Dürksen.
The lap times come rolling in slowly, as only 15 of the 22 drivers have set a time after the first 15 minutes have passed. The track clearly is getting a bit dryer, as more drivers are improving on their times.
A lot of drivers are limiting their running time during the session, in an attempt to save the wet tyres in case rain returns in the remainder of the weekend, resulting in the fact that at the halfway mark only 18 drivers have put a time on the board. On top it is still Aron, followed by Zak O’Sullivan and Jak Crawford.
The struggling Prema-duo Oliver Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli were the next to hit the track. The newly-signed Haas F1 driver really wrestles his Dallara through the Maggots-Becketts complex, eventually resulting in the new fastest time in 1:59.474, just edging teammate Antonelli.
This leaves only the Campos-duo without a time on the board, but Josep Maria Martí quickly changes that as he goes to 15th, leaving only Isack Hadjar without a time. The Red Bull-junior will however get plenty of running later today, as he’s scheduled to drive Formula 1’s FP1 for Red Bull.
Martí improves on himself, going to the top with a 1:58.693, but is quickly improved by Dürksen who puts a 1:58.604 on the board, proving the track is drying up.
Colapinto, who drives FP1 for Williams today, is the first one to try and go on slicks, but he is clearly struggling on the hard compound. However, a large chunck of the field follows his example in an attempt to find the cross-over point.
The first noticable incident of the session is Staněk going straight on in Vale, catching a little air in the grass. Bearman is the next one to go off in Village as he catches a wet spot under braking. Teammate Antonelli also has a little off in Copse, showing that it is still tricky on the slicks.
Taylor Barnard, still on wet tyres, follows Antonelli’s example in an attempt to trump AIX stablemate Dürksen, while O’Sullivan brings out the yellow as he does some off-roading through the gravel in Stowe.
Just before the flag drops Verschoor goes second, but his time is deleted, as Hadjar eventually fails to set a time. This mean Dürksen leads the pack, from Martí, teammate Barnard, Bearman and Antonelli. Aron is sixth, from O’Sullivan, Crawford and Staněk, as Zane Maloney completes the top 10.
Colapinto has the final act of the session as he beaches himself in the gravel trap in Vale, after a small spin on the slick tyres.
Formula 2 returns for qualifying at 16:00 CEST this afternoon.
