Valtteri Bottas finished fastest as rain meant only 10 cars set lap time during Practice 1 at the British Grand Prix.
The famously fickle UK weather turned for the worst just as the session began with a downpour leading to some early running on intermediates.
However, once the shower had passed only portions of the circuit were properly wet with teams reluctant to burn through the tyres.
🌤💨🌧... and repeat #BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/FUOka4VIra
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 1, 2022
Towards the end, the drivers ventured out again with many then switching to soft slicks as most of the track was dry.
Bottas though would set the best time of 1m42.249s on the intermediates, just half a second ahead of Lewis Hamilton on the soft compound.
The Mercedes though was the only driver to do a timed lap on slicks before Lance Stroll went off into the gravel at Copse corner, causing a red flag and ending the session slightly ahead of schedule.
A few cars emerge onto the track including Lance Stroll, but the Canadian spins off into the gravel.
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 1, 2022
He's stuck. Out comes the red flag, and FP1 is brought to an end a couple of minutes early.#BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Nocss32ezW
So variable was the weather that 16 seconds covered the 10 cars to set a time, with Sebastian Vettel the slowest for Aston Martin.
All the other drivers did start timed laps but failed to complete them before the red flag.
Full results from a less than ideal FP1 can be seen below:
Let's say the #BritishGP has got off to a false start at Silverstone... #F1 #Formula1 pic.twitter.com/VgduovOOWt
— InsideRacing.com (@INSIDERACINGcom) July 1, 2022
