A total of 92 laps for the two Ferrari 10s, split equally between the drivers, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, in the first three hours of free practice held yesterday for Sunday’s British Grand Prix. In the afternoon session around Silverstone, Fernando was second fastest splitting the two Red Bulls of Mark Webber who topped the time sheet and Sebastian Vettel, third. Felipe ended Friday in fourth place ahead of the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher.

Looking at the form so far this season, one might have expected the McLarens to be in this lead group, but yesterday, the English team’s two world champions, ended up in eighth and thirteenth places with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button respectively. That will have disappointed their home fans, who packed the grandstands in what looked like the biggest Friday crowd of the season so far.

The famous Silverstone circuit has been modified several times in its long history and the latest version marks the biggest changes for many years: originally made with two wheels in mind, as the English track staged the British MotoGP for the first time this year and today, it got a mixed reception from the drivers: even within Ferrari there is no clear decision, as Fernando found it interesting, while Felipe felt it added nothing to the spectacle and would probably not promote more overtaking. Maybe there will be a verdict at the end of tomorrow’s race. One aspect that is not in doubt is that the new section is quite bumpy, which is another factor to deal with, not just for the drivers, but also for the engineers, as they strive to find the right set-up for the new layout.

Because of the negative outcome of the European Grand Prix for the Scuderia a fortnight ago, it is easy to forget that updates introduced by the team in Valencia had brought an increase in performance and so, it should not be too surprising that here at Silverstone, where even more aerodynamic updates have been introduced, the F10 looks competitive, even if the inevitable Red Bulls still seem to have the edge in pure performance terms.

“We had a good day, especially as we were able to complete a very intensive work programme,” said Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Stefano Domenicali at the end of yesterday's sessions. “With in-season testing banned, Fridays take on a dual function – preparing the cars for qualifying and the race and the development of new solutions for the short and medium term – and today we completed both phases. From what we have seen today, we have a very strong Red Bull, which is definitely no surprise, while the rest are closely matched behind, with some who might have masked their potential. We have to remain concentrated on our own work, trying to get as well prepared as possible for qualifying and especially for the race. Today, we saw several cars go off track, a sign that the slightest error can be costly at this circuit: everything will have to be perfect if we want to bring home a good result.”

Fernando Alonso: “I think the only way to describe today is that it was a Friday like so many others. I expected to be competitive because our car is much better than it was at the Turkish Grand Prix, which was the last time we raced at a track with similar characteristics to this one. As expected, Red Bull is very strong and therefore the big favourite for tomorrow’s qualifying and behind them, we will fight it out with McLaren, Renault and maybe also Mercedes: nothing different there to Valencia. At this track, you need a car with a lot of aerodynamic downforce and slightly different suspension settings to usual. The new components introduced in Valencia and those brought here have improved the handling of the F10: we must continue to push on the car development front at each and every race. I like the new part of the track: it is fun and safe and I think it improves the show. Regrets over the outcome of the last two races? The final adding up comes in Abu Dhabi. We lost points that were within our grasp but, in Barcelona for example, we were lucky to pick up others. Now there are 75 points up for grabs in the space of four weeks: we must try and do better than our rivals, trying to always finish on the podium, starting from here.”

Felipe Massa: “I would say it’s been a good day for us. We tried out various new aerodynamic components and compared different configurations: by the end, the car was pretty good, with a variety of fuel loads and on both new and used tyres. We are doing so much work on the development of the car and one can see the benefits: the new elements we brought to the track for this Grand Prix did the job and can now be signed off after their track debut. After this good start, let’s hope the weekend continues down this route. The new part of the track? Honestly, I was expecting more in terms of overtaking opportunities: I do not think it will change the situation much compared to the past.”

Chris Dyer: “We are pleased with how things went on this first day of the British Grand Prix. We had a very packed work schedule and we managed to get through it all successfully. The indications we are getting from the new components we introduced here and at the last race seem to be positive. The overall performance of the package we have here is reasonably good: we still have a bit of work to do to fine tune the car, especially for qualifying, but overall, we have a good starting point from which to continue working this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Over a long run we seem to be competitive, which is a good sign for the race. Both drivers tried the car with and without the blown rear wing, because we wanted to be sure that overall, its use would pay off at a track like this: and the response to this configuration was a positive one.”