Hamilton tops damp practice

The Formula One field was faced with a damp track for this afternoon’s practice session.

The teams kicked off the 90-minute session with intermediate tyres, as the circuit was still too wet for the dry options. Everyone worked as best as possible on their race preparations, completing some long and heavy-fuelled runs.

The McLarens set the pace in these conditions, ahead of the Red Bulls. There was few grip available and several drivers had to use the run-off areas to avoid drama.

With just over an hour gone, Nico Rosberg and Jaime Alguersuari collided at Turn 1. The Mercedes driver locked up into Turn 1 and slid straight into the side of the Spaniard’s Toro Rosso, which was exiting the pits.

The German had to pull off just after Turn 2 with his front wing stuck under his car, while Alguersuari managed to rejoin the pits at slow speed. His mechanics immediately started working on his car so that he could take part to the final part of the session.

As a result, Alguersuari came back out with 15 minutes left and was the first to have a crack at dry tyres. Hamilton, Buemi and Alonso followed suit. More drivers gave it a try but struggled to get any heat in their tyres and found some poor grip.

The session concluded with no proper dry running for the teams. Hamilton was credited with the fastest time, 0.1s ahead of his teammate Button. The newly-crowned World Champion was third fastest ahead of Alonso and Webber.

Alguersuari was up in sixth place. Massa, Rosberg, Buemi and di Resta completed the top ten.