Felipe Massa topped the times in the opening free practice session for the British Grand Prix at
Silverstone, but had to survive several minutes at the top of the table without the means of defending his spot following a heavy shunt.
The Brazilian had followed Ferrari's now customary gameplan of allowing others to get the ball rolling in the session, moreso after all ten teams had tested at Silverstone last week, but was quickly on the pace when he finally took to the track. However, towards the end of the first 60 minutes, Massa speared off the road at Stowe, hitting the barriers hard with the rear of the F2008.
Driver error and mechanical failure were quickly dismissed as culprits in the incident as reports of an engine problem on
Fernando Alonso's
Renault suggested that Massa had been caught out by fluids spilt from the R28, much as
Timo Glock had ahead of the
Ferrari. Fortunately, Massa was unhurt in the incident, but the same could not be said for the car, which sustained heavy rear-end damage and could be forced to miss the afternoon session. The session was red-flagged for nearly 20 minutes while the recovery took place and the fluid spill was attended to.
With the field having to pick up its pace again, as well as dealing with the cement dust on the Hangar Straight, Massa's target time of 1min 19.575secs remained largely unthreatened, although
Heikki Kovalainen posted his best effort in the closing stages to move into second spot, ending the 90-minute outing just 0.012secs adrift of the Brazilian.
The Finn also moved ahead of Mclaren team-mate
Lewis Hamilton and countryman
Kimi Raikkonen as the 'big four' filled the corresponding positions on the timesheet. Raikkonen, fourth fastest, was 0.373secs slower than his team-mate, while
Robert Kubica rounded out the top five for
BMW Sauber. Alonso wound up sixth-fastest, the final driver within a second of the overall pace.
