Rachel Bridge: Currently sat outside Silverstone stuck in traffic... I have tickets to get in and everything.

Image source, Martin Heath

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, EPA

"Kimi Raikkonen's future is one of the main talking points at the moment, and whether Ferrari will retain him and prolong his F1 career into 2016. The team have not yet made up their mind, although they have gone far enough to compile a list of potential replacements, Raikkonen says all he can do is drive his best. But, if his team are disappointed with his form, at least he has some support from his team-mate.

"'For a limited period we all had races where we crashed before,' Sebastian Vettel said, 'we don't need to call it a negative period, if you look at the way F1 is, you have two or three races where you don't get the results and people call it a negative period, I had the same last year where things didn't come together for many different reasons. In the end Kimi is a champion and he knows what he is doing I think he has said that on the radio, I think he knows what he is doing and puts his focus on the weekend to try to do his best, I don't need to give him any advice or talk to him.

"I am very happy with Kimi. Since day one he has been very straight and he hasn't changed. Becoming world champion in 2007 didn't change him, in the years that he wasn't in F1, it didn't change him. It is good for F1 to have him back. Seeing him as team-mate it is the first time I get to compare with what he is doing on track. We are very close to each other, sometimes I have the upper hand and sometimes he has the upper hand so it is a good challenge, and for him, he has a different approach to some things. I know we have this season left, I don't know the contract details for next year but would be nice to have him in the team next year.'"

It seems our TV colleagues are getting into the swing of the Silverstone weekend with a barbecue.

Nigel Mansell and Jenson Button - the latter adopting a very manly posture beside a smoking fire pit - have been spied with David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan.

First free practice for the British Grand Prix begins.

Image source, .

BBC weatherman Ian Fergusson says Friday at Silverstone will be dry, sunny and turning very warm.

We're likely to see temperatures into the mid-upper 20s C by afternoon, probably 26-27C at the circuit and there are no weather concerns for FP1 or FP2.

Those camping at the circuit might be in for a soggy evening though, with threat of some heavy showers and thunderstorms spreading north, some potentially severe. The Met Office has issued a warning for these.

You can catch the full weather report here.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"Nico Rosberg might have won three times in the last four races, but in terms of qualifying form not much has changed between the Mercedes drivers - Lewis Hamilton has been on pole for seven of the eight races this season. Hamilton feels he lost the last race in Austria at the start, and fascinating new information has emerged about why the world champion was slow off the line.

"His reaction time to the lights going out was slower than Rosberg's, but that was because there was a problem with his engine - as he tried to match the throttle to the on the dashboard indicator that shows the ideal revs for the start, the engine was not responding to his foot moving on the pedal; when he lifted, the revs weren't falling. So Hamilton had to guess the correct throttle position and hope for the best.

"'His reaction time was long as a result of trying to manage this issue,' said executive director (technical) Paddy Lowe, 'and in fact our analysis having reproduced the issue in the Austria test, we actually found Lewis had done an incredible job to manage it as well as he did. Things could have been a lot worse.' Indeed they could - Rosberg was unable to stop the engine from stalling each of the several times he replicated the problem in testing."

Image source, Reuters

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"Silverstone traffic jam..."

Image source, Andrew Benson

Jenson Button on Twitter:, external Morning from Silverstone. This was me 16 years ago in my first British Grand Prix. #Likeafinewine!!!

Nice looking car, the 2000 Williams.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

We've got some bonus Brits in action for you today.

Susie Wolff is drafted in for Valtteri Bottas in the Williams, the Scot earning her second practice drive at Silverstone in as many years.

Over at Lotus, Jolyon Palmer is again in for Romain Grosjean, the second of a run of five consecutive outings for the GP2 champion over the remaining European rounds this season.

The duo join regular Brits Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Will Stevens.

Another FP1 change sees Sauber test driver Raffaele Marciello come in for Marcus Ericsson.

As mentioned at the outset, the F1 strategy group met at Biggin Hill on Wednesday and emerged with rule changes to be brought in from next month's Belgian Grand Prix - chiefly restrictions on radio coaching and driver aids "with a particular emphasis on race starts".

The FIA said the measures would "bring back the driver in full control of the car, enhancing races excitement and unpredictability".

It added that "several exciting and innovative changes to the qualifying and race weekend formats have also been discussed and are being evaluated for introduction in 2016", with a number of websites reporting that a second, shorter race might be introduced on Saturdays.

Obviously it's early days, things need to be ratified by the F1 commission and so on, but all of this certainly smacks of a sport ready to undergo a major overhaul.

Please get in touch using #bbcf1 with your views on the proposals.

Force India on Twitter:, external Good morning Silverstone! Stunningly blue and clear sky today, it's time to get this party started!

Image source, Force India

Driving into work today I heard the excellent Lynn Bowles utter the words "Towcester" and "A43" during her travel report and a warm, fuzzy feeling came over me.

Yep, when that 60-mile ribbon of tarmac starts leading the travel bulletins you know it's British Grand Prix time.

Even though today is just practice, the roads around Silverstone are snarled up, as the picture below from BBC Radio Northamptonshire nicely demonstrates.

Image source, .

Image source, BBC Northampton

BBC Northampton on Twitter:, external The campers are waking up and getting the breakfast on the BBQ at Hamilton Fields Campsite.

Image source, BBC Northampton

Image source, Martin Heath

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg are staying in adjacent motorhomes in the British Racing Drivers' Club campsite here, and the expectation is that they will be in equally close company on the track.

"Just 10 points separate them at the top of the championship after a run of three wins in the last four races for Nico Rosberg, who explained his recent results in a matter-of-fact fashion, saying: 'Nothing has changed; it's just sport goes in waves.' That sounds about right, but Hamilton wants to turn the tide back in his direction on his home track."

Image source, AP

James Allen
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

Blue skies over Silverstone - how often can we say that? Going to be a special British GP weekend.

Image source, James Allen

Good morning and welcome along to live text coverage of the opening two practice sessions for the British Grand Prix.

I'm not going to lie to you, this feels very good indeed.

The sun is out, the sky is blue, Wimbers in full swing and F1 has done with its travels for a few glorious days to return to its spiritual home.

It all feels very jolly and, well, British. So much so in fact, I've started this live text with two Monty Python references.

What a time to be alive.

Hard as it is to believe, what feels like a mewling, callow F1 season is actually stampeding into middle age, with the ninth of 19 races to be held at Silverstone this weekend.

To be quite honest, F1 2015 is not really developing into the strapping brute we hoped it would be. We've had a smattering of decent action but a truly great race has been conspicuous by its absence.

It's all led to a lot of navel-gazing (something at which F1 excels), with fans asked for their views on the state of the sport and F1's rule-making strategy group getting their heads together on the eve of the British Grand Prix and coming up with a raft of new proposals to shake up proceedings.

We'll rake over those new proposals as today's action unfolds, starting at 10:00 BST with first practice.