Williams was forced the team to change their Friday practice plans at Silverstone after Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll damaged their new parts on a kerb exiting Copse.

Both drivers were exploring the limits of the racetrack in Practice 1 in the morning but in doing so would, in the case of the Brazilian, cause a new winglet above the bargeboard to fall off and shatter, while the Canadian broke the floor of his car on an aggressive outer kerbs designed to deter drivers from exceeding track limits at the famous high-speed right hander.

The new elements were part of the updates introduced in Austria last weekend that Williams has struggled to optimise when running out on track, but, with better outcomes being observed, that work was ended due to a lack of each new part.

"We should go back to the new ones tomorrow, hopefully," Massa explained later

"It was good, it was not really like in Austria," the 36-year-old added.  "Everything was quite normal to warm up the tyres, I did my best lap on the first lap on the tyres without any problem. That's definitely positive.

"The long run feels OK, so everything really went in a good direction, like we had before Austria."

It was an eventful day for Massa, as he would spin at Becketts in the afternoon and was investigated but later cleared of holding up Max Verstappen, as the two had a mini fight through Vale and Club corners.

"I had a lot of traffic in the front, so that's what I backed off," he said. "If he was on his timed lap I would not do that definitely."

As for Stroll, he had a positive feedback too as he eased his way into his first F1 weekend at one of its most difficult tracks. The Canadian would finish the second session 15th but enjoyed the feel of his car around Silverstone.

“[There are] a few things to improve on my side but the car feels more competitive than Austria, which is positive," he claimed.