England: Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was fastest in practice at the British Grand Prix, followed by the Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and three-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel on Friday.
Rosberg, who won the Monaco GP, was 0.299 seconds faster than Webber. The Australian surprised his team on Thursday by announcing he would be leaving Formula One at the end of the season to race sports cars.
Vettel was 0.432 seconds behind as he looks to extend his lead atop the drivers' championship. The German has a 36-point lead over Ferrari's Fernando Alonso with 12 races remaining. Lotus driver Raikkonen is another eight points back in third and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton is fourth.
Mercedes
driver Nico Rosberg was fastest in practice at the British GP, followed
by the Red Bull drivers Webber and champion Sebastian Vettel.
On a rainy day at Silverstone, teams were forced to get much of their track time in on the second session after rain washed out most of the first session. The track was mostly dry but it still caused plenty of problems for Alonso's teammate, Felipe Massa.
Massa spun and crashed into a wall on Turn 15, the latest setback for the Brazilian who has had crashes in two earlier races. He crashed in practice and the race at Monaco and then in qualifying at the Canadian GP.
In the first session, Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest lap of 1:54.249 followed by Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg, who was 0.784 seconds off the pace. Williams driver Pastor Maldonado was third fastest.
The track remained empty for most of the 90-minute session while it rained on Silverstone. Expecting dryer conditions this weekend, teams gambled they would learn little from a wet track.
Half the drivers went out in the session, though Hamilton was the only title contender to set a lap time.
Several drivers struggled with the wet track including Caterham's Charles Pic, who slid into a wall. He was unhurt.
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