Sebastian Vettel confirmed on Saturday morning that Red Bull Racing has topped all practice sessions at Silverstone this weekend. The German led the way from team-mate Mark Webber although the hour-long period came to a dramatic end when Vettel narrowly escaped a crash due to a front wing failure at the rapid new Abbey Curve.
Although a chance of rain is feared ahead of race day, the British spectators continued to enjoy temperatures in the early 20s as the third of three weekend practice sessions commenced at 10am. With crosswinds blowing stronger than yesterday, a number of cars were caught out at Copse but none more dramatically than Adrian Sutil.
Having been warned of the hazard via team radio, Sutil drifted wide in the middle of the corner but was thankfully able to save the car courtesy of a dramatic moment which involved several quick direction changes. Home hero Lewis Hamilton endured a similar but less lurid moment, as did former championship rival Felipe Massa.
Timo Glock found himself in trouble just ten minutes in, as the Virgin Racing car was forced to creep back to the pits with throttle problems. However, the ex Toyota man was soon able to rejoin and eventually set the 23rd fastest time ahead of Sakon Yamamoto, who mysteriously replaces Bruno Senna at Hispania for this weekend only.
Although Lucas di Grassi's Virgin continued to send sparks flying at Abbey, it was fastest man Vettel who experienced the scariest moment; having snatched the top spot from Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, which led the way in the first half of the session, the Red Bull's nose cone could be seen to drop down approaching the corner – thankfully, quick reactions from last year's winner ensured that he was firstly able to avoid an accident and secondly able to recover to the pits, where mechanics immediately proceeded to inspect the car's front end.
Qualifying for the 2010 British Grand Prix begins at 1pm local time (BST) and can be followed live via GPUpdate.net
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