Rosberg clocks fastest time
SILVERSTONE: Nico Rosberg knocked team mate Lewis Hamilton off the top of the timesheets in the dying seconds as Mercedes dominated first practice for the British Grand Prix yesterday. The German, 10 points behind double world champion Hamilton after eight of the season’s 19 races, lapped with a best time of one minute 34.274 seconds on a bright and hot morning at Silverstone. Hamilton was a mere 0.070 slower with Toro Rosso’s Dutch teenager Max Verstappen an impressive third but 1.256 off the pace.
Rosberg, winner of three of the last four races, had sat out much of the session as mechanics changed his car’s gearbox due to a hydraulic fault that stopped him on track with just five laps done. He had time for only 12 laps once the car had been fixed, compared to Hamilton’s 26, but he made up for lost time by getting quickly up to speed.
Hamilton, who can expect to have most of the support from an expected 140,000-strong crowd on Sunday, had an early spin at Stowe without consequence.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who crashed heavily in the previous race in Austria, was fourth fastest with Spaniard Carlos Sainz fifth for Toro Rosso and Sebastian Vettel sixth in the other Ferrari. Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg, with the updated Force India getting its first proper run, was ninth fastest behind the Red Bulls of Daniel Riciardo and Daniil Kvyat.
Honda-powered McLaren’s miserable run of form continued with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button 17th and 18th respectively, after spending most of the session in the garage, with only the Manor Marussia drivers slower than them. Development driver Susie Wolff made her sole appearance of the weekend for Williams and was 13th fastest. A Meanwhile, former FIA president Max Mosley has warned that Formula One risks serious difficulties unless it changes direction and cuts costs.
“There are no two ways about it, if Formula One continues on its current path, it is headed for a major crisis,” the Briton, who stood down from running the governing body in 2009, wrote on the Daily Telegraph website. “The futures of six out of 10 teams on the grid are uncertain, there is too much artificiality in the racing, costs are far too high, and all that is giving us uncompetitive and, at times, boring racing.” The 75-year-old, who regularly urged teams to cut costs during his time in office, suggested the problems could also affect the transfer of ownership from controlling rights holders CVC Capital Partners. Recent reports have indicated RSE Ventures, which owns the Miami Dolphins NFL team, and Qatar want to buy CVC’s 35.5 percent stake in Formula One in a deal that would be worth $7-8 billion. “Once spectators stop coming, the grands prix are no longer viable for the organiser. If television audiences go down, Bernie Ecclestone has to trim down the contracts,” he said. “From then on it becomes a downward spiral. “And for CVC Capital Partners, the majority shareholders, it becomes especially difficult when they are trying to offload the sport.”
Mosley, who was a close ally of Ecclestone over decades in the sport, said he would allow teams more technical freedom if they adhered to a cost cap of about 60 million pounds ($93.55 million) a season. He also advocated a “drastic rethink” in how the sport made up the rules, describing as “utterly hopeless” the current Strategy Group, which brings together the top six teams, commercial rights holders and FIA president Jean Todt.
“The best suggestion I have heard was to scrap the Strategy Group and replace it with three independent advisors; people who know the sport well but are not partisan,” he said.
Mosley listed former Honda and Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn, race director Charlie Whiting and FIA safety commission president Peter Wright as ideal candidates.
“When I was president, by some means or another we would push what we wanted through, usually by asking for more than I actually wanted. I don’t know if Jean is unable to do that, but I don’t think he wants to,” said Mosley.—Reuters