Red Bull set Silverstone pace

Mark Webber topped the overall timesheets following Friday's practice sessions for this weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Webber quickest in afternoon while Hamilton slips to eighth

Red Bull set the early pace ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix with Mark Webber topping the overall timesheets following Friday's practice sessions at Silverstone. The Australian showed no ill-effects following his spectacular exit from the European Grand Prix two weeks ago as he lapped the revamped 5.901km Northamptonshire track in a time of one minute 31.234 seconds in the afternoon's second session. Although Webber had to sit out the final 20 minutes after his car developed an electrical problem, his best effort was still 0.392secs quicker than Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Alonso had only been 13th quickest during the morning but the double world champion leapt up the order with a 1:31.626s. Team-mate Felipe Massa, meanwhile, ended the day fourth quickest having been down in 17th after the first session. Splitting them was Webber's team-mate Sebastian Vettel, fastest in the morning, while Lewis Hamilton slipped down from second to eighth fastest with McLaren team-mate and world champion Jenson Button falling in turn from eighth to 13th. With the pair currently first and second in the drivers' championship, a record-equalling crowd of around 85,000 turned out at Silverstone - although the day's running might leave them perplexed as to where this weekend's undoubted stars stand in the pecking order. Hamilton was 1.523secs adrift with Button two seconds down, times which suggested they are either sandbagging or the big update on their car - a version of the exhaust blown diffuser pioneered by Red Bull - is not working as planned.

Short cut

Hamilton did spend time on long runs during the afternoon, although he also struggled twice as he took a short cut across the grass after momentarily losing control of his car at Becketts. During the morning, Hamilton's car appeared unstable over a bump at Abbey turn, where the old layout turns right to merge with the new Arena complex. Mercedes' Nico Rosberg was the only other driver to finish within a second of Webber in fifth, with team-mate Michael Schumacher half-a-second adrift of his German compatriot in sixth. Renault's Vitaly Petrov managed to get the better of team-mate Robert Kubica, with the Russian seventh quickest, 1.5secs behind Webber, while the Pole ended the afternoon in 11th. The Force India duo of Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi were ninth and 15th, the latter replacing Paul di Resta in the second session after the Scot had enjoyed another run out in the first. Sakon Yamamoto, who has surprisingly replaced Bruno Senna at Hispania Racing for this weekend, again struggled as he finished 23rd seven seconds adrift. Lotus's Jarno Trulli, who had been forced to make way for reserve driver Fairuz Fauzy in the morning, managed just three laps in the afternoon due to technical problems and finished 11 seconds down.

Times

1. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull-Renault 1min 31.234s
2. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1:31.626
3. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull - Renault 1:31.875
4. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:32.099
5. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:32.166
6. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes 1:32.660
7. Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 1:32.745
8. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:32.757
9. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India-Mercedes 1:32.787
10. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Williams - Cosworth 1:32.967
11. Robert Kubica (Poland) Renault 1:33.019
12. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) Williams - Cosworth 1:33.164
13. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1:33.200
14. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) BMW Sauber - Ferrari 1:33.402
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Force India-Mercedes 1:33.728
16. Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:33.836
17. Pedro de la Rosa (Spain) BMW Sauber - Ferrari 1:34.051
18. Jaime Alguersuari (Spain) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:34.643
19. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Lotus - Cosworth 1:35.465
20. Lucas Di Grassi (Brazil) Virgin - Cosworth 1:36.237
21. Timo Glock (Germany) Virgin - Cosworth 1:36.553
22. Karun Chandhok (India) HRT - Cosworth 1:37.019
23. Sakon Yamamoto (Japan) HRT - Cosworth 1:38.303
24. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Lotus - Cosworth 1:42.901