Mark Webber wound up eighth overall, though it was far from the same sort of straightforward day that the
Red Bull Racing ace had enjoyed on Tuesday. A persistent misfire eventually led to an undiagnosed electrical problem and engine change, meaning the Australian only managed to complete a scant four laps in the morning and suffered from the red flags like everyone else later on, getting through just 39 tours in total before team-mate
David Coulthard takes over for the final day.
Home favourite
Jenson Button completed the most laps of any driver present – 104 –
en route to setting the ninth-quickest time for
Honda, just over 1.4 seconds adrift of the leading pace, whilst bringing up the rear was
Force India's
Giancarlo Fisichella.
The Italian put something off a dampener on a productive morning session – spent evaluating new aerodynamic upgrades – when he got caught out by the gusty winds just before the lunch break, losing control of his Force India going through the ultra-fast Becketts corner and spinning heavily into the barriers. The impact caused extensive damage to the VJM01, ruling the team out of any further action for the day and causing Fisichella to be sent briefly to hospital for precautionary checks. Team-mate
Adrian Sutil will test for the Silverstone-based squad on Thursday.
“It's a real shame we couldn't do more running in the afternoon,” the 35-year-old later rued, “as this morning it was all looking quite good. The car felt quicker even though the balance was not so good because of the high winds.
“Unfortunately I just got caught out by a change in grip and balance going through Becketts and went off the track and hit the barriers. I wasn't hurt at all, but I did not take my hands off the wheel and they had to do some checks to make sure my wrist was okay.”
